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P O E M & 



LYRICAL 



AND 



MISCELLANEOU 



BY THE LATE 



REV. HENRY MOORE, 



OF LISKEABD, 




PRINTED FOR J. JOHNSON, NO. 72, ST. PAULS CHURCH-YARD; 
By J, Crowder and E. Hemsted, Warwick- Square.- 

1803. 



**. 



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PREFACE 

BYTHE EDITOR, 



Of the Author of the subsequent Poems, whose lot it was, with genius, 
learning, and morals, to pass a life of almost total obscurity, few bio- 
graphical memorials could be expected. Such as have been obtained, 
together with some account of the circumstances attending the present 
publication, will, doubtless, be acceptable to the reader. 

Henry Moore was born on March 30, 1732, at Plymouth, where 
his father, a man of extensive learning and merit, was minister to a con- 
gregation of Dissenters. His mother was the daughter of William 
Bellew, Esq. of Stockleigh-court, in the same county. He received his 
grammar-education under Mr. Bedford, afterwards vicar of Charles- 
parish, in Plymouth. The conversation and instruction of his father 
could not fail to contribute farther to his early improvement. In the year 
1749 he was entered at the academy of Dr. Doddridge at Northampton * 3 
and he was a member of it at the time of that eminent tutor's decease. 
On this occasion, Mr. Moore paid a tribute of respect and veneration in 
a poem to his memory, to the publication of which he gave his consent, 
but not to the many alterations which were made without his knowledge, 
and with which he was much displeased. The poem was dedicated to 
Mrs. Doddridge, and was justly admired as a production of elegant fancy 
and warm affection. He finished his academical course under Dr. Ash- 
worth; and in 1755 or 1756, was elected minister to a dissenting con- 
gregation at Dulverton in Somersetshire. In 1757 he removed to a 
similar situation at Modbury in Devonshire ; where he continued till his 

b 



[ ** ] 

final removal to Liskeard in Cornwall, which took place about the year 
1787. In these long periods of life he appears to have been almost 
totally lost from the notice of the world ; recollected, perhaps, by some 
of his fellow-students as a youth of promise ; known by a few brother- 
ministers as a man of learning and critical talents ; but probably scarcely 
recognised by two or three individuals for the splendid and cultivated 
genius, capable of shining in the highest ranks of literature, had fortune 
produced him upon a theatre suited to his powers 

How he appeared in the latter portion of this narrow course, to an 
intimate friend who was able properly to estimate him, will best be 
shewn in that friend's own words. " He was probably led to adopt his 
" retired and obscure mode of life, partly from the weakness of his 
" constitution, the original infirmity of which was distressingly increased 
" by his studious and sedentary habits ; partly from the singular modesty 
" and diffidence of his disposition. Notwithstanding, however, he thus 
" voluntarily withdrew from general society, when in company with any 
" one with whom he felt himself at ease, his conversation was most 
" agreeable and entertaining, enlivened with sprightly sallies and sea- 
" sonable anecdotes. Although there was so little in his situation that 
" seemed calculated to produce contentment and thankfulness, and 
" although he had long suffered under painful and complicated bodily 
" complaints, yet he was perfectly free from any disposition to repine. 
" I never heard him utter a querulous expression. The composure and 
" resignation of his mind seemed always undisturbed. His manners were 
" singularly mild and gentle. He appeared utterly unconscious of pos- 
" sessing any extraordinary powers : indeed, his behaviour indicated a 
" greater degree of humility and distrust than I almost ever witnessed." 
I shall add, that both the trials he underwent, and the sources of his con- 
solation, are strongly marked in his poems ; in perusing which, we cannot 
but feel, that though he suffered much, he was nobly supported. 

He so far overcame his diffidence, as to become a considerable contri- 
butor to the two volumes of " Commentaries and Essays," published by 



[ v ] 

the Society for promoting the Knowledge of the Scriptures. In these, the 
different papers entitled, " Critical Notes on many passages of the Old 
" Testament - } some Observations on the Song of Moses; on the Greek 
" Version of Deut. xxxii. 43 ; and on the two first chapters of St. Mat- 
" thew, and the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans ;" all marked 
with the initials H. M. are by his hand. These pieces obtained for the 
author the character of a very learned, ingenious, and useful critic, from 
such judges as the late Dr. Geddes, and Michael Dodson, Esq. 

Mr. Moore was the author of an anonymous letter, in which the doc- 
trines of Mr. Madan's Thelypthora are attacked with much humour and 
vivacity. 

At the solicitation of his nephew, who was a very intelligent surgeon 
at Plymouth, he printed, in 1795, a short poem entitled, "Private Life, 
" a Moral Rhapsody." This, though a performance of much poetical 
and sentimental beauty, yet appearing from a country press, and with no 
advantages of publication, seems to have attracted little notice. Its merit, 
however, did not pass unobserved by one of the periodical critics. 

During the last summer, Mr. Moore put into the hands of the friend 
above referred to, a volume of MS. poems, which, with singular mo- 
desty, he requested him to shew to some person sufficiently conversant 
with productions of the kind, to judge of their fitness for the public eye. 
I was applied to on the occasion ; and I trust the readers of these pieces 
will be convinced that I could not hesitate in giving a decided opinion in 
their favour. In reality, I scarcely ever experienced a greater and more 
agreeable surprize, than on the discovery of so rich a mine of poetry, 
where I had not the least intimation of its existence. That the author 
should have passed seventy years of life almost totally unknown, was a 
circumstance that excited the interest of all to whom the poems were 
communicated; and we were impatient that, however late, he should 
enjoy those rewards of merit which had so long been withheld. In the 



[ Ji ] 

mean time he was attacked with a severe stroke of the palsy, which, 
while it left his intellects free, incapacitated him for every exertion. 
There was now no time to be lost. My offer of taking upon myself the 
whole care of the editorship was thankfully accepted ; and a subscription 
was set on foot, which met with the warm support of many, who were 
desirous that all possible comfort should be supplied to cheer the helpless 
decline of such a man. But the progress of debility anticipated these 
well-intended efforts. Fie sunk tranquilly under his disease on Nov. 2, 
1802, having, however, lived to enjoy some satisfaction from the know- 
ledge that there were persons whom he had never seen, who could regard 
him with cordial esteem and friendship. As he lived in celibacy, and 
had no dependent relatives, no other object remained for a subscription 
than that of bringing forward his posthumous work in an advantageous 
manner, secure both from loss and neglect. It is now committed to a 
liberal and discerning public,in the confidence that the Author will obtain 
no mean place among those who have contributed to elevate the minds, 
purify the morals, and gratify the noblest tastes of -their countrymen. 

Stoke Newingtoh, 
Jan. I, 1803. 

J. AIKIN. 






CONTENTS. 



A Vernal Ode - - - Page 1 

A Lyric Rhapsody ~ - - - 6 

Ode on Contentment - - . - 1 1 

The Vanity of Fame - - - - - 16 

Ode to Great Britain - - - 20 
Ode, occasioned by the atheistical Tenets publicly avowed in France 25 

An Angel's Survey of the World - - - 29 

Ode to Delia, Singing - - - - 36 

To a young Lady on her Birth-day - - -39 

Ode to Novelty - - - 42 

Ode to Divine Wisdom 46 

Ode to Divine Love • - - - 52 

Ode to Religion - - - - 59 

On Retirement - - 63 

The Complaint - - - - -66 

Peace of Mind, an Ode - - - -70 

Fortune and Virtue contrasted - - - 75 

Ode to Night - - - - - 79 

The Fall of Zion - - - - 83 

Invocation to Melancholy - - - 91 

Ode to Wisdom - - - - - 97 

The Folly of Discontent - - - 102 

Elegy on the Death of a young Lady - - 105 

Elegy on the Death of Mrs. S. - - 109 

On the Death of an amiable Child - - 111 

Resignation - - - ~ 113 

Epistle to a young Lady - - - - 118 

To a young Lady, with Milton's Paradise Lost - - 124 

Sonnets - - _. - - 127 

The \Z2d Psalm translated - - - - 135 

Hymns - - - - - 137 

Private Life, a Moral Rhapsody - - 144 

c 



POEMS, 



LYRICAL and MISCELLANEOUS. 



A VERNAL ODE. 



\_JN his car of light on high 

Flaming down the gladden'd Iky, 

Which the new-born Zephyrs bear 

Thro' the azure .wafte of air, 

Dropping verdure, dropping joy, 

As they wave the dewy wing, 
Moves on, the fmiling majeity of Spring. 
His floating robe each fplendid charm difplays 
Of colour, varied in a thoufand ways; 
Gay dance behind the Graces wreath'd with flowers, 
Young Loves, and blooming Hopes, and bright-ey'd Hours; 
The hills and vales their green array renew, 
And all Elizium rifes to the view; 
O'er ev'ry mead the breath of fragrance flows; 
O'er ev'ry grove the blufh of beauty glows. 

B 



[ 2 ] 

Maya's rofy fingers now 
Cull the faireft flowers that blow, 
And ev'ry balmy fweet combine 
To form the wreath divine, 

And confecrate the gift at Nature's facred fhrine. 

The mighty Mother, bending from her throne, 
Receives the fragrant boon, 

And bids it her refulgent brows infold, 

And breathe perfume around her locks of gold. 

Hence, Sadnefs then, with fullen brow, 
And gloomy thoughts, that feed on woe! 
Hence Difcontent's corroded breaft, 
With all Heav'n's bleffings ftill unbleft! 
While hill, and dale, and ftream fupply, 
Whate'er can charm the ear, or eye, 
Scenes where enthufiafr. Fancy ftrays, 
Loft in wild Rapture's magic maze, 
Indulge the genial hour, and tafte 
The thoufand fweets of Nature's feaft. 
Let Cheerfulnefs with golden ray 
Beam ev'ry cloud of care away ; 
Let warm Benevolence expand the mind, 
And Nature's kindnefs teach us to be kind. 

The Fairy-tribes, as village legends fay, 

From tilent haunts of dale, and hill, 
And pebbled fount, and ru£h-clad rill, 
And tangled copfe, and foreft hoar, 
Where Winter winds have ceas'd to roar, 
Now hold their yearly holy-day. 



} 



[ 3 ] 

Featly o'er the hallow'd ground 
On the nimble toe they bound, 
Ever in a magic round, 
With rites and honours due to celebrate the May. 
Corydon will mew the place, 
And their tiny footfteps trace, 
Where the grafly circle's feen, 
Springing with a freiher green.. 



There in the fecret fhadowy glade, 
When from yon mountain's azure head: 
The ling' ring gleams of parting day 
Glimmer, faint, and fade away. 
Sweet Philomel ! thou bid'fl to flow 
Thy mufical, thy melting woe. 
Sufpended o'er the fparkling ftream, 

Where plays the pale Moon's ever-trembling beam,. 
Attention ftands with mute furprife, 
With folded arms, and half-clos'd eyes, 
And liftens into ecftacies. 

The fylvan Genius feems to guard the ground, 
And all is foft enchantment round. 

Hufh'd is the hollow gale, 
That lately whiffled thro' the ruftling woods ; 
The fhrill wild warblings dying down the dale, 
With the rude murmur mix'd of falling floods, 

At that ftill folemn hour 
Seize on the fenfe, and with myfterious pow'r 
Of artlefs plaintive modulation, lull 
In fweet and filent ravimment the Soul. 

b a 



} 



[ 4 ] . 

"Charm'd are the pamons, harmoniz'd the mind, 
Calm as the glafly feas, while deeps the wind. 
O'er-wearied Labour feels no more his toils: 
Dew-ey'd Sorrow, rous'd to hear, 
Wipes away the ftarting tear : 
Woe-worn Melancholy fmiles, 
And grim Defpair, that beat her madding breaft, 
Forgets awhile that fhe was e'er unbleft. 

But when of dawn the rofy dyes 

Brighten o'er the blufhing Ikies, 

And the gray clouds their robes unfold, 

Streak'd with purple, edg'd with gold, 

And their blended colours throw 

On the glitt'ring lake below. 

See ! Health, the blooming village-Maid, 

Her cheek in native red array'd, 

Her treffes gracefully untied, 

Which fhame the artful hand of Pride, 

Sprightly o'er the fpangled lawn 

Comes tripping like the nimble fawn! 

Then at her work, the ftreams along, 

Rudely trills the rural fong! 

Content, that lightens ev'ry care, 

Sits fmlling in her chearful eye ; 

While Luxury with languid air 

Leans on pale Envy pining by. 

See Earth her Maker's milder image wear, 
Profufely good, and exquifitely fair, 



• [ 5 ] 
Spontaneous Graces catch the ravifh'd view, 
Scenes ever varying, beauties ever new. 
The hills rejoice around, the vallies fing, 
And e'en rough mountains gratulate the Spring, 
While the gay quires, that haunt the fhelt'ring made, 
Their untaught mufic mix, to glad the groves, 
Where Contemplation, fweetly-penfive Maid, 
With Peace and Rapture roves. 

Rejoicing in the good, his hands beftow, 
Th' Almighty Father looks well-pleas'd below ; 
But chief, his fav'rite work to fee, 
The pious, grateful, focial Soul, 
Where tun'd to Nature's harmony 
The fofteft, fweeteft paffions roll ; 
That throbs in fympathy with woe, 
That flames with friendmip's holy glow, 
That fwells with wifhes unconfin'd 
To fcatter bleffings o'er Mankind, 
And, in divine refembling lines imprefl;, 
Loves his own image on the gen'rous breaft. 



« ] 



A LYRIC RHAPSODY. 

Beauteous Sifter of the Sun ! 
Whofe gentle rule the ftarry quires obey, 
In full-orb'd glory move majeftic on, 
And fhed a fober, a religious ray p 

O'er the gloomy front of Night 

Caft. a fweetly-folemn grace, 
Show'r o'er her fable plumes thy pearly light, 
And kindle into fmiles her awful face.. 

Here, mufing in the fecret glade, 
While beneath the waving made 
Dance on the chequer'd ground thy quiv'ring beams, 
Or play bright-fparkling on the trembling flreams, 
O'er the fmooth lake a fofter luflre throw, 
And the hill tops feem tipp'd with filver fnow, 
From Folly's laugh, from Splendor's idle glare,. 
The routs of Riot, and the toils of Care,. 
My foul to Solitude, to Silence, flies, 
To Contemplation's pure, and placid joys j; 
O let her here a calm afylum find, 
And leave the Bufy, and the Gay behind I 

Hail heav'nly Contemplation ! meek-ey'd Maid I 
Fair Hermit ! born beneath th' embow'ring made, 
And nurs'd by Silence, daughter of the Night, 

Converting in thy native wood 
With holy Genii, guardians of the Good, 
Wifdom ferene, and Rational Delight ; 



[ 7 ] 

Receive the fugitive— my cares aflwage, 
And bid the fwelling paffions ceafe to rage ! 
I long to hear the whifper'd founds, that flow 
From thy lov'd lips to chear the lonely hours, 
Mild as th' ambrofial gales of heav'n, that blow 
O'er amaranthine flow'rs. 

O come ! and beaming full on Fancy's eyes 
Bid Virtue's facred glories rife, 
Such as befide Ilyflus' flreams 
Bleft her Plato's hallow'd dreams, 
Whence his warm tranfported thought 
Its high ecftatic fpirit caught ! 
Bid me with awful pleafure trace 
Each mental charm, each moral grace, 
In all their fair attractions dreft, 
The Sage's thought, the Patriot's flame, 
The pure delire, the gen'rous aim, 

And the bright ardor of the godlike breaft ! 

The friendly heart, the focial glow, 
The melting foul of tendernefs, 
The tear by Pity taught to flow, 
To footh the pangs of keen diftrefs ; 
The firm refolve, that dares defy 
The lightning of the Tyrant's eye, 
And, fpite of flattery, or force, 
Holds on unmov'd its honefl: courfe ! 
Thus let me view the mind-ennobling Maid, 
In mingled majefty and grace array'd, 
'Till in my breaft. her thrilling pow'r inipires 
Her own divine delights, her own immortal fires. 



[ «' ] 

But chief, above thefe fubhmary ikies 

Bid my bold ideas rife 

On Rapture's flaming car, 
By fiery courfers born in boundlefs flight 

Above the blazing height 
Of yon dread concave gemm'd with many a itar,. 
To orbs infpher'd in empyrean gold, 
Where crown'd with flow'ry wreaths, that never die,, 
The blooming Sons of Immortality 
Sport with young Joys in endlefs circles rolPd : 
Where the Firft Beauty fheds eternal day, 
While round his. faphire throne the flame-rob'd Quire 
Touch into tranfport high the heav'nly lyre, 
And to the Perfect Fair devote the lay ; 
And while around his peerlefs glories ftream, 
Glow with the warmth, and brighten in the beama. 

Hail Excellence Supreme ! above, below, 
We fee thy beauteous emanations flow. 

Hence each fublime, engaging grace, 

That ftrikes, or charms on Nature's face ; 
Hence Art derives her mimic pow'r to pleafe, 
Her varied order, and her polifh'd eafe ; 

Wifdom from Thee, the parent Mind, 

Imbibes her intellectual day, 
The tow'ring fentiment, the thought refin'd, 

Are beamings of thy borrow'd ray: 
When Virtue, on her fmooth unfullied breaft 

Beholds her moral charms confeft, 
Majeflically Great, or fweetly Fair, 
She views but thy reflected image there,. 



[ 9 ] 

When at thy potent voice Confufion fled, 
And from the dread abyfs of ancient Night 
Young Nature rofe — while round her purple head. 
Play'd the mild luftre of the new-born light ; 

When o'er the wide-extended globe 
Celeftial Beauty carl her flow'ry robe, 
With tow 'ring cedars crown'd the hanging hill, 
Shed o'er the plain, the grove, the glade, 
Her fweetly-varied light and made, 
And thro' the valley pour'd the vagrant rill ; 

While Life diffus'd thro' ocean, earth, and air,. 
In her variety of forms more fair, 
Aloft on new-fledg'd pinions wing'd her way, 
Or cleav'd with oary fins the foaming fea, 
Roam'd o'er the mountain, bounded thro' the brake 5 
Graz'd the fmooth green, or lurk'd in fedgy lake; 
Still was there wanting, to command the whole ? 
A ruling Pow'r, a reas'ning Soul.. 

A work of more exalted kind • 
Thy great ideas then defign'd ; 
Bade a majeftic form arife, 
And lift to heav'n the confcious brow, 
The feat of thought, and fparkling eyes 
All bright in Fancy's vivid glow. 
Him, thy fair Image, did thy word ordain 
The reas'ning Monarch of the land and main ?! 
Supreme, but with a juft and gentle fway, 
And bade the Brute his deflin'd Lord obeyc 



I 10 ] 

Nor for this world alone, a tranfient fcene, 
Form'ft thou the Soul — Some inftincl from within, 
Thine infpiration, wings her wifh fublime 
Beyond the bounds of nature, and of time. 
The ftrong and reftlefs energy of Mind, 
That roves the fields of Science unconfin'd, 
That fpreads its darting plumes from pole to pole, 
Wherever tempefts rage, or oceans roll, 
Explores the fecrets of the realms on high, 
Draws the red lightning from the low'ring Iky, 
Bids feven-fold light its magic dyes difplay, 
The blended glories of the golden day, 
Treads the bright path the circling planets run, 
Sports in the living fplendors of the fun, 
Or far outflies the comet's blazing race, 
And feeks new fyftems thro' the wilds of fpace — 

Immenfe defigns, 
Immortal hopes, and unextinguihYd fires, 
Exalt her vaft afpiring thought to Thee, 
And only find a bound in thine Infinity. 

But when, forgetful of her heav'nly birth, 
She drops her idle plumes, and finks to earth, 
■When" loft to Virtue's facred charms, 
Her vigour melts in Pleafure's arms, 
Her grace and beauties by degrees decay, 
And mifts of error cloud her mental ray ; 
Slaves to a tyrant luft, divine no more, 
Her towring faculties no longer foar ; 
Her nobler pow'rs in wild confufion toft 
By furious parnons, or in languor loft, 
Lie drear and wafte, like once a beauteous World 
Dafh'd into ruin, and in Chaos huiTd. 



t n ] 

ODE ON CONTENTMENT. 

Behold thofe haughty hills, that heav'n invade, 
And o'er the vales extend their awful made ! 

Sublime upon his icy throne,. 

There tyrant Winter reigns alone,. 
In fallen majefcy ; while vapours hoar 
And rainy clouds involve his gloomy brow;: 
Beneath his feet the chilling tempefts roar, 
And down the mountain drive th' inceffant mow; 
Beat by the hollow blafr. the rocking woods 
Wave their brown horrors, howling o'er the floods. 

Here feems old Chaos to maintain. 

The relics of his ancient reign, . 
When yet the rude materials of the world 

Were all in wild confufion hurl'd; 
Ere yet the Sov'reign Mind 
In friendly league the jarring atoms join'd, 
Polifh'd the rugged form of Nature's face, 
Mix'd ftrength with elegance, with grandeur grace, 
And pour'd thofe beauties o'er the blended Whole, 
Which charm the light and elevate the foul. 
And is there ought of blifs 'mid fcenes fo dear? 
And can Contentment fix her dwelling here ?■ 



Yes ! here — tho' Wildnefs o'er the ragged rocks 
Roams with diforder'd robes, and tangled locks,,. 
Tho' hither late arrives the lagging Spring, 
Slow-ftooping with unwilling wing*. 

c2. 



1 12 ] 

And fcatters with a fparing hand 
His treafures o'er the barren land, 
Yet, while in ftudious quiet bleft, 
Beneath my humble roof I reft, 
I envy not the happier ikies, 
Where brighter funs unclouded rife 
To gild Hefperia's flow'ry vales; 
Where Beauty wreath'd by Love with rofes 
In the myrtle bower repofes, 
Her bofom cool'd by fragrant gales; 
And vernal Hours difplay their purple pride 
On broider'd Arno's blufhing fide. 

True Blifs is not to place confin'd, 
But ftays, or travels with the Mind ; 
Nor luxury, nor pomp impart 
Her genuine rapture to the heart. 
Thofe vaunt her favours moft, who leaft obtain, 
The Great, the Proud, the Vicious, and the Vain. 
Coy Beauty and referv'd, me flies 
The croud's applaufe, the public eye, 
Loud-laughing Folly's idle joys, 
And Grandeur's childifh pageantry ; 
Deep in the breaft retir'-d me fits unfeen, 
Still fought without and over-look'd within. 

When Dionyfius crown'd the purple bowl, 
Bid round the board the tides of pleafure roll, 
And call'd her to the feaft, he call'd in vain; 
She fled the noify banquet with difdain, 

And fwift her downy pinions fpread 
To Plato in his Academic made, 



[ 13 ] 

While by Ilymis' bank with tranfport high 
His foul enjoy 'd her immortality. 

In Pleasure's blooming walks and fragrant bow'rs. 
Where Venus waves her golden hair, 
Beneath the fhades, among the flow'rs 
Lurks the fly deceiver Care : 
While Admiration gazing counts 
The trophies in long triumph born, 
Aloft the Victor's gilded car fhe mounts, 
And with the wreathing laurel twines her thorn ; 
And while " a God ! a God !" — refound the fkies. 
The fighing heart the loud acclaim belies. 

Her gloomy front fhe dares intrude 

Upon the Tyrant's folitude ; 
Nor can the bravefr. guards, that round him wait, 
Drive the fell harpy from his chairs of ftate. 
The found of titles, and the foo thing ftrain 
Of fervile flatt'ry charm remorfe in vain, 
To the fore mind like mufic idly play'd 

To Mothers, on an infant's bier 

Shedding the pathetic tear ; 

•Or to the fond and faithful Maid, 

With a breaking heart that hangs 

O'er a dying Lover's pangs. 

Guilt o'er his bofom throws infernal night; 
There the grim ghofts of ancient crimes affright; 
Now Vengeance flames before, now frowns behind ; 
Vengeance he hears in ev'ry wh.ift.ling wind : 



[ 1* ] 

For him he thinks the flaming lightnings fly ; 
For him the thunders murmur in the Iky : 
Sufpicion paints the vifionary dart, 
And pale alFaffin : with uplifted hand, 
And eye determin'd, ftern, he fees him ftand)., 
And aim the vengeful weapon at his heart; 
Aghaft he fhudders at the view, 
And Harts, and fears the vifion true.. 

Far from the din of courts, Repofe 

Vifits the harmlefs Shepherd's fhed,,. 
O'er his hard limbs her fleepy poppy throws, 
And curtains round with reft his lowly bed ; 

Then gives him to the dawning day 

Blith as the vermeil morn of May. . 
Uprifing light his fleecy charge he leads 

To the frefh fountains, and the flow'ry meads ? . 
Lays by the ftream his carelefs length along, 
And whiftles rude his wildly-warbled fong ; 

Or by the bluming Milk-maid's pail . 

Artlefs tells his tender tale. 

Ambition with her gilded mare 
Stalks by his cot, too proud to enter there ;- 

From Envy's lynx's eye, 
Conceal'd in fhades his humble merits lie, 
And factious Rage, on murder'd Greatnefs fed, 
Hurls her dire jav'lin at a nobler head. 

O Nymph of fweet engaging mien, 
With ruddy cheek, and brow ferene. . 



[ 15 1 

Divine Contentment! ftill be nigh 
To cheer me with thy placid eye. 
While thro' this fleeting Life's fhort various day 
A humble Pilgrim here I plod my way, 
May no ambitious dreams delude my mind, 
Impatience hence be far — and far be Pride ; 
Whate'er my lot, on Heav'n's kind care reclin'd, 
Be Piety my comfort — Faith my guide. 

Let others rife by guilt and meannefs Great," 

Riot in luxury, and ftalk in ftate 

Their fhort-liv'd days, 'till Death, relentlefs foe, 

Strike" their vain grandeur to the gulf below ; 

The godlike Soul regards with juft difdain 

The paffing pageant of the Proud and Vain : 

Her wifh fhe wings beyond the bounds of time 

To joys more pure, to glories more fublime. 

Her bold Ambition, of no mortal fize, 

Does like fome ColofTean fratue rife, 

And hide its tow'ring forehead in the Ikies. 



I. 



r *« ] 



THE VANITY OF FAME,. 

As vapours from the marfh's miry bed 
Afcend, and gathering on the mountain head, 
Spread their long train in fplendid pomp on high %. 
Now o'er the vales in awful grandeur lour ; 
Now flaming, thund'ring down the trembling iky^. 
Rive the tough oak, or dam th' aipiring tow'r ; 

Then melting down in rain 
Drop to their bafe original again ; 
Thus earth-born Heroes, the proud fons of praife, 
Awhile on Fortune's airy fummit blaze, 

The world's fair peace confound, 
And deal difmay, and death, and ruin round,. 
Then back to earth thefe Idols of an hour 
Sink on a fudden, and are known no more. 

Where is each boafted Favourite of Fame., 

Whofe wide expanded name 
Fill'd the loud echoes of the world around, 
While fhore to more return'd the lengthen'd found ?. 
The Warriors where, who, in triumphal pride,. 
With weeping Freedom to the chariot tied, 
To Glory's Capitolian temple rode ? 
In undiftinguifh'd duft together trod, 
Victors and vanquim'd mingle in the grave; 

Worms prey upon the mould'ring God,. 

Nor know a Csefar from his flave^ 



[ w ] 

In empty air their mighty deeds exhale, 
A School-boy's wonder, or an ev'ning tale. 

In vain with various arts they ftrive 

To keep their little names alive, 
Bid to the Ikies th' ambitious tow'r afcend ; 
The cirque its vaft majeftic length extend ; 
Bid arcs of triumph fwell their graceful round ; 
Or maufoleums load th' incumber'd ground; 
Or Sculpture /peak in animated ftone 
Of vanquifh'd Monarchs tumbled from the throne ; 

The rolling tide of years 
Ruining with ftrong, and fteady current, bears 
The pompous piles with all their fame away, 

To black Oblivion's fea; 
Deep in whofe dread abyfs the glory lies 
Of empires, ages, never more to rife ! 

Where's now imperial Rome, 
Who erft. to fubject. Kings denounc'd their doom, 
And fhook the Scepter o'er a trembling World? 
From her proud height by force Barbarian hurl'd. 
Now, on fome broken capital reclin'd, 

The Sage of claffic mind 
Her awful relics views with pitying eye, 
And o'er departed Grandeur heaves a figh ; 
Or fancies, wand'ring in his moon-light walk 
The proflrate fanes, and mould'ring domes among, 
He fees the mighty Ghofts of Heroes ftalk 
In melancholy majefty along, 

D 



[ 18 ] 

Or penfive hover o'er the ruins round, 
Their pallid brows with faded laurels bound ; 
While Cato's fhade Teems fcornful to furvey 
A race of Slaves, and flernly ftrides away. 

Where old Euphrates winds his ftoried flood, 
The curious Traveller explores in vain 
The barren fhores, and folitary plain, 
Where erft majeftic Babel's turrets flood; 
All vanifht from the view her proud abodes, 
Her walls, and brazen gates, and palaces of Gods ! 
A fhapelefs heap o'erfpreads the dreary fpace, 
Of mingled piles an undiftinguiih'd mafs; 
There the wild tenants of the defart dwell; 
The ferpent's hifs is heard, the dragon's yell ; 
And doleful howlings o'er the wafle affright 
And drive afar the wand'rers of the night. 

Yet, 'tis Divinity's implanted fire, 
Which bids the Soul to glorious heights afpire ; 
Enlarge her wifhes, and extend her fight 
Beyond this little Life's contracted round, 

And wing her eagle flight 
To grandeur, fame, and blifs without a bound. 
Ambition's ardent hopes, and golden dreams, 
Her tow'ring madnefs, and her wild extremes, 
Unfold this facred truth to Reafon's eye, 
That " Man was made for Immortality." 

Yes, Friend ! let noble deeds, and noble aims. 
To diflant ages confecrate our names. 



[ 19 ] 

That when thefe tenements of crumbling clay 

Are dropt to duft away, 
Some worthy monument may ftill declare 

To future times, " we were I" 
Not fuch as mad Ambition's vot'ries raife 
Upon the driving fand of vulgar praife ; 

But with its firm foundation laid 

On Virtue's adamantine rock, 

That to the Ikies mail lift its tow'ring head 

Superior to the furge's fhock. 
Plann'd like a Memphian Pyramid fublime, 
Rifing majeflic on its ample bafe, 
By jufr. degrees, and with a daring grace, 
Erect, unmov'd amid the ftorms of time ! 

Of time! no, that's a period too confin'd 
To fill th' unbounded Mind, 
Which o'er the barrier leaps of added years, 
Of ages, *eras, and revolving fpheres, 
And leaves the flight of numbers frill behind. 
When the loud clarion's dreadful roll 
Shall rend the globe from pole to pole ; 
When worlds and fyftems fink in fire, 
And Nature, Time, and Death expire ; 
In the bright records of the fky 
Shall Virtue fee her honours fhine ; 
Shall fee them blazing round the facred ihrine 
Of blefl Eternitv, 



DJ2 



t 20 ] 



ODE TO GREAT BRITAIN. 

Thee, Albion! Thee my grateful Mufe mail ling; 
For thee, great Mother ! touch the lyric ftring : 
Parent of Men, wife, martial, bold, and free, 
Who oft have fac'd the fiercer}, forms of Death, 
And gafp'd in Glory's arms their parting breath 
For Liberty, and Thee. 

Hail feat of fcience, arts, and equal fway! 
Freedom's fair throne amid the fubjeclfea! 

Thee fav'ring Heav'n delign'd 
From wild defpotic rage the Fortrefs of mankind. 

For this he rais'd thy rocky mound, 

And pour'd the roaring billows round, 
From where old Orcas hears the rough North rave 3 
To where Belerium brows the weftern wave. 

To thy propitious more 
Fair Innocence oppreft by tyrant powV, 

Andmeek-ey'd Peace repair, 
And find a fure repofe and refuge there. 

While on the verdant hills, and flow'ry mead, 
Thy fleecy flocks fecurely ftray, 
Thy lowing herds fecurely feed, 

And ruftic youth their frolic gambols play,. 
No hoftile legions dare invade 
Thy unpolluted made; 



[ 21 ] 

No hoftile founds their horrors dart 

Thro' the Virgin's trembling heart, 

JLift'ning in the tranquil grove 

To fome tender tale of love; 
But Peace, and Freedom walk the hallow'd ground, 
And rich Abundance fmiles, and Beauty blooms around. 

On thy eternal rocks, with trophies grac'd, 

Above the foaming furges of the flood, 

Has Liberty fublime her Temple plac'd, 

The deep foundations ftain'd with Tyrants' blood, 

Vaft pile of adamant! the ftruclure ftands; 

To heav'ns high vault the fwelling domes afpire, 

And fried their luftre wide — while diftant lands 

Behold the golden glories, and admire. 

There native Genius, and confummate Art, 
Exerting each their deftin'd part, 
Have fpirit, grandeur, grace combin'd, 

And Gothic ftrength with Grecian order join'd 

To form one bold and regular defign, 

Where juft proportion tempers warmth divine. 

Around the walls, by mimic Art pourtray'd, 
Are Patriots, Chiefs, and mighty deeds difplay'd. 

Here the impaffion'd colours tell 

How gentle, gen'rous Ruffelfell; 
There Sydney fierce, impatient of the yoke, 
Firm and undaunted meets the Tyrant's ftroke : 
Here Eliot, ardent for her injur' d laws, 
With Roman fpirit pleads his country's caufe ? 



[ 22 ] 

Scorns the mean Tyrant's arts, his rage defies, 
And with the fpirit, that he liv'd, he dies. 

See Hampden with a calm determin'd air 
The frown of ftern Oppreffion fingly dare ! 

There fainting on the ground 
In living purple ftreams his glorious wound, 
While Freedom, Honour, Virtue mourn around. 
In attitude to fpeak fee Chatham fland ! 
He waves with graceful dignity his hand ; 
Britannia's rights his fervid breaft infpire, 
Each look, and acl, all energy and fire ! 
But feeble here are lines, and colours faint ; 
Fancy muft image, what no art can paint ; 
That patriot glow, from whofe refifflefs ray 
The foes of Freedom turn'd their eyes away ; 
Soul-piercing eloquence with wifdom join'd ; 
The comprehenfive thought, th'unconauerable mind. 

There with majeftic charms, 

Guarded by laws, and arms, 
The Goddefs, awful, fills her facred feat : 
While Tyranny with brazen fetters bound, 
Thrown from his fteel-bright chariot to the ground, 
Rages with idle fury at her feet : 
His iron rod, and axes ffain'd with gore, 
And racks, and tort'ring wheels, lie broken on the floor. 

On either hand, attendant on their Queen, 
la fair array a comely Choir are feen; 



[ 23 ] 

Mild Peace, whofe locks her olive wreaths infold, 

And rofeat Plenty, with her Hb'ral horn: 

And fun-burnt Commerce, bright in broider'd gold, 

Whofe brows the treafures of the world adorn. 

The Mufes there with manly melody 

Bid to her praife their nobler numbers roll, 

And from the luftre of her vivid eye 

Catch the keen flame, andextacy of foul. 

Touch 'd by her animating ray 

The fciences and arts difplay 
Whate'er unfetter'd Genius can infpirp, 
All Reafon's energy, all Fancy's fire, 
That give or grace, or dignity to Mind, 
And form, fecure, improve the blifs of human-kind. 
Truth, by blind zeal and tyrant rage unaw'd, 
Like the free eagle wings her daring courfe, 
And foaring upward to her heav'nly fource 
Imbibes the bright effulgence of her God. 

Goddefs ! by Albion mofr. ador'd and bleft ! 

Still may thy fpirit fwell the Britifh breaft ! 

Thy ardours flill her patriot Chiefs infpire, 

And kindle to a blaze her Warriors' fire! 

Beneath thy influence flill may Britain reign, 

Imperial miflrefs of the mighty main ; 

And while her naval thunders roar, 

Pale Gallia tremble — proud Iberia's more 
Tremble thro' her echoing caves, 
Dafh'd by Britannia's fubjecl waves ! 



[ 2* ] 

May Fate another, better, age unfold I 

May Peace repofe beneath her olive {hade, 

While ringing Mufes lull the fleeping Maid, 

Anditill may Plenty {mile, and Commerce flame in gold! 

O drive Corruption to her dreary cell, 

There may th' envenom'd harpy dwell 

Amid the glooms of night, and groans of Hell! 

On Glory's car, at her fublimeft. height, 

May the full fplendours of thy genius glow, 

A ray on Albion beam benignly bright, 

But fiafh like Wafting lightning on her foe ! 



} 



[ 25 ] 



ODE 

OCCASIONED EY THE ATHEISTICAL TENETS PUBLICKLY AVOWED 

IN FRANCE. 

" Is there a God ?" the Sceptic cries, 
Profanely daring, and abfurdly wife. * 
Afk the loud thunder ! Afk the lightning's glare ! 
When Terror riding on his fiery car, 

Flafhing thro' the blue profound, 

Shakes the vaulted heav'ns around : 
Or afk the troubled Deep, 
When o'er the furge the dire tornados fweep, 
Bid the vext furface into mountains rife, 
And wild Confufion mingles waves, and Ikies; 

While the poor Pilot, pale with dread, 
Sees ghaftly Death hang foaming o'er his head ; 
Trembling fhe'll tell, what awful Pow'r prefides 
To fink, or fwell to rage her hoarfe-refounding tides. 

Afk of the Ikies, who form'd their mining frame ; 
Who rang'd the ftarry legions in array ; 
Who thro' the void elanc'd the comet's flame, 
And from its golden fountain pour'd the day ? 
Who bends the concave of the fev'n-fold bow ? 
Who gives the rifing morn its rofeat glow? 



* Hor. Od. 34, 1, i. Infanientis Sapientias, 



l^- 



[ 26 ] 

In tenfold darknefs now involves the fphere ; 
While ftalk terrific thro' the dreadful night 
Rav'ning Death, and pale Affright, 
And fhake the fhiv'ring heart with frantic fear? 

Are proofs of Pow'r too weak ? Behold around 
Bounty profufe, and Love, that knows no bound ! 
For thee, ungrateful Man! his fav'rite care, 
He flied a thoufand charms on Nature's 'face, 
All fweetly blended — the fublime, the fair, 
Order divine, and foul-enchanting grace. 
Cloth' d the gay paftures with enliv'ning green, 
Arch'd with embow'ring fhades the fy Ivan fcene ; 
Swell'd the high mountain with majefric pride, 
Slop'd the deep vale, and down its winding fide 
Bid many a frefh rill flow, that murm'ring ftrays 
Moft mufical in many a waving maze. 

For thee his vernal Zephyrs play, 
And in rich colours blooms the flow'ry May; 
For thee his handmaid Nature fhow'rs around 
Her ample fliores, and loads the gladden' d ground ; 
For thee his Moons their filver beams unfold, 
And Suns with regal grandeur blaze in gold. 

Yet Man, with reafon blind, perverfe of will, 
Caprice his guide, and luft his law, 
Still prone to interdicted ill, 

Nor Love can melt, nor Powr' can awe. 

Of Heav'n's unnumber'd bounties while pofleft 

The goodnefs he blafphemes, that makes him bleft : 



[ 27 j 

Weak Reptile ! dares with impious pride 
Oppofe th' Orrmipotent's command, 
Nor fuffers his uplifted hand* 
To lay the vengeful bolt afide. 

Infatiate Famine, flame-ey'd War, 

Foul Difeafe's ghaftly train, 
And pining Grief, and agonizing Pain, 
Outrageous Frenzy, iiillen-ey'd Defpair, 

Whofe hand determin'd grafps the dart 
To drive it to her heart, 
Pale-cheek'd x^nxiety, that knows no reft, 
And fell Remorfe with fnaky treffes crown'd, 
With all her thoufand Fiends of horror round, 
That pierce with guilty pangs the fecret breaft, 
And that dread Voice, that dogs the godlefs crew, 
Which filent long, at length with awful roll, 
Like thunder pealing thro' the fhudd'ring Soul, 
Compels it to believe, and tremble too, 
All at his footftoo! wait his dread command : 
Grim-vifag'd Vengeance heads the grifly band : 

Arm'd with her iron rod, 
With all the flames and thunders of her GOD, 
Her holl: of marmall'd Ills fhe leads below, 
And deals around variety of woe. 

e 2 



neque 



Per noftrum patimur fcelus 
Iracunda Jovem ponere fulmina, 

Hor. Od. 3, 1,1, 



[ 28 ] 

Hail Greateft ! Wifeft ! Beft ! 
While peal thy thunders, and thy lightnings glow. 
Let the bold tremble, and the haughty bow, 
And thrilling terrors chill the Tyrant's breaft ! 
But bleft the pious, gentle, gen'rous Race, 
On whom, imprefr. in many a lovely line, 

The beamings of thy beauty mine, 

With- full reflected grace ! 
Theirs is heart-chearing Hope of eye ferene, 
Mild as fome fmiling Angel's placid mien ; 
Theirs is ftrong-pinion'd Faith, that dares the iky ; 
Theirs Peace etherial ever calm, and even ; 
Theirs the rapt Seraph's foul-entrancing joy ; 
Theirs the fair dawnings of the day of Heaven. 

To them thy flaming bolts no terrors bear, 
While in their dread Almighty King they view 

The tender Father too, 
Joy in thy love, and trufl thy faithful care. 
Thus fome bright Cherub Hands before thy fhrine, 
Fearlefs his Maker's awful form furveys, 
Securely fees his dreadful glories mine, 
And in his lightning's living flames plays. 



[ 29 ] 



AN ANGEL'S SURVEY OF THE WORLD. 

" Among the tribes, that float in air around, 

" Or cleave the curling wave, or graze the ground, 

" Is there no Being of fuperior frame ? 

" No mafter-work of Heav'n, 
" To whom more awful pow'rs, a purer flame, 

" A reas'ning Mind is given, 
" By the Firft Father form'd fublime to fway 
" O'er the wide land, and loud refounding fea ? 

" There is — I fee this earthly Demigod ; 
" I fee the graceful form, the meaning face, 



" Erect, and towr'ing to yon bright abode, 

" Where with majeftic beauty ftampt I trace 

" Th' infpiring Soul, that fills the lovely mrine, 

" Reafon's keen piercing beam, and Virtue's air divine. *' 

So fpake a Spirit of etherial frame, 
When firft to earth a vifitant he came ; 
To view the glories of his God difplay'd 
In mining orbs, and rolling worlds unknown, 
In varied forms, in varied grace array'd, 
He left his native fkies, and kindred fun, 

And on the pious thought intent, 
To this terreftrial ball his courfe he bent. 

Awhile the purple-pinion'd Stranger ftood, 
And with an Angel's ken, that wide, and far 



[ so ] 

Glanc'd like the lightning's inftantaneous glare, 
Our idle, bufy, buftling race he view'd. 

He faw with forrow there 
His Maker's image, frampt divinely fair, 
Profan'd by Folly, or by Vice defac'd ; 
All quench'd the facred Soul's etherial flame ; 
Forgot her being's nobler end and aim ; 
Her reafon (lave to {enfe, and bending to the beaft. 
Unchain'd the fiercer paffions madden round, 
Pride, Envy, Lull:, Ambition, Rage, confound 
The world's fair order- — and like hell-hounds driv'n 
By fcourging furies, wafte the works of Heav'n. 

Here Vice he fees, enthron'd in Virtue's fhrine, 
With idol pomp ador'd, and rites divine, . 
Her fecret myft'ries unabaih'd difplay, 
And a6t her orgies in the face of day. 
Her impious Sons frill riot uncontrolled ; 
Not fiercer midnight wolves, that thin the fold ; 
No ties confine their rage, no fanclions awe ; 
To them no God, no Gofpel, and no law : 
Yet is their fpreading glory feen, 
Tall as the palm, and as the laurel green ; 
For them fair Plenty heaps her ample ftores, 
And on the genial board unfparing pours ; 
For them the weary Peafant plows the foil ; 
Theirs is the fruit, for which ten thoufand toil ; 
Sublime on Fortune's airy height they ftand, 

Her mining fane command, 
Rum on herglitt'ring fpoils with rapine bold, 
And mare at will her honours, and her gold. 



[ 31 ] 

Now ftrike his ftartled ear from far 
The din, and deaf'ning clamours of the Bar. 
There with arch leer, and ever pliant tongue, 
Stands Sophinry, confounding right, and wrong ; 
With Impudence, nor Man nor God can awe, 
And ftern Oppreffion, fanctified by law ; 
While Perjury without remorfe, or dread, 
Hears the hoarfe thunder murm'ring o'er his head, 

Juftice with weeping eyes 
Her rightful feat, and facred temple flies ; 
Chicane with thoufand tongues ufurps her reign, 
Loud as the clangors of the ftorm-vext main. 



*tr 



There fees he blazing in imperial pride 

On Freedom's proftrate neck the Defpot ride ! 

Furious, and gloomy as the northern wind, 

He makes the fword of vengeance o'er mankind, 

Like a red comet with his flaming hair ; 

Oppreffion, Rapine, flalk befide the car, 

Captivity, and Grief, and gory Death behind. 

But now the martial clarion's lnrill alarms 
Call all the Furies — roufe the rase of war. 
He hears the prancing fteed, the clatt'ring car, 
And vales, and rocks rebellow loud — u to arms!" 
In mining pomp, and awful beauty gay, 
Fierce for the bloody bUs'nefs of the day, 
See front to front two kindred armies ftand ! 
Difcord, with ferpents huffing round her head, 
Bids to the iky the purple banners fpread, 



[ 32 ] 

Her torch of flame high waving in her hand ; 
With frantic mien fhe runs from band to band, 
Fires ev'ry beating breaft, and fovvs the feed 
Of rancour, rage, and death, and ev'ry dreadful deed. 

Now meet the charging Legions — hate and ire 
Edge their keen fwords, and fparkle in their eyes : 
The glowing field appears a moving fire : 
Loud and more loud the mingling clangors rife. 
Fierce Difcord thunders, and the hills reply 
Hoarfe echoing — trembles earth, and makes the iky. 
From hoif, to hoft gigantic Terror ftrides, 
And darts chill horror thro' the braveft bread : 
Grim Death amid the ranks in triumph rides, 
And calls Hell's hungry bloodhounds to the feaft. 

Dinolv'd are Honor's, Friendmip's, Nature's ties ;. 
See by the Brother's fword the Brother dies ! 
See mute with horror, writh'd with anguim there 
Bent o'er his murder'd Son the gory Sire — 
Looking fome dreadful thought in ftern defpair ; 
Then with, felf-vengeance on the corfe expire ! 

Here fell Revenge around 
Turns her keen eye to find her hated foe ; 
Full at his heart me drives the defp'rate blow, 
And turns th' envenom'd weapon in the wound. 

Wide Defolation o'er the weeping plains 

R timing with wafteful fway, 
Like a van: torrent fwoll'n with wint'ry rains, 
Sweeps the rich product of the year away. 



[ 33 ] 

High o'er th' imperial city's glitt'ring fpires 
Blaze to the midnight fky the crackling fires. 

Sights of horror, founds of woe 
Mark the dire progrefs of the viclor foe ! 
The harden'd Soldier looks relentlefs on, 
And fhouts triumphant o'er th' expiring groan. 

There from his fnowy wafte, and frozen Ikies, 

The rav'ning Ruffian Eagle Hies, 
And fwiftly mooting from his airy way 
Pounces on his trembling prey. 
The Polifh Peafant fees the flames invade 
His long-lov'd cot, and blaft the blooming grove, 
Where whilom to his nut-brown Maid 
He told his tales of love. 
His flocks and herds the foldier's fpoil, 
He flies exil'd his native foil, 
Stagg'ring with age, and care ; 
With cold and famine faint his infant race, 

And pining in his fond embrace/ 
His foul with agonizing tortures tear. 

But now the Angel's eye new fcenes invite : 
He fees a long proceffion rob'd in white ; 
Melodious warblings trill on ev'ry tongue ; 

To God afcend the lays 

In founds of facred praife, 
His love the grateful fubjecl of the fong. 

To pay the folemn vow 
To yon fair temple's gilded domes they go. 



[ » ] 

A fudden tranfport feiz'd the Seraph's breaft, 
As when among his- brethren of the Blefl, 

In heav'nly bow'rs above, 
To Rapture's voice he tun'd the lyre of Love. 

Quick thro' the founding aide a glance he darts. 

Then back with horror ftarts. , 
There Superftitionfits in idol ftate, 
To kneeling trembling crowds denouncing fate, 
Far-beaming rays her flaming brows infold; 
Her beauteous outride gorgeous all with gold : 
Her inward form, by art in vain conceal'd, 
To his keen eye the Fiend of Hell reveal'd. 

Now in dread majefty fublime fhc ftands, 

And wields the three-fork'd thunder in her hands; 

Now to thick fhades, and cheerlefs gloom retires, 

And thro' the darknefs breathes devouring fires; 

At her command the deadly lightning flies ; 

At her command th' avenging Furies rife ; 

Hark! the harm jarrings of the clanking chain! 
Sighs of forrow, fullen moans, 
Doleful fhrieks^ and dying groans,- 

And Hell's own horrors fill: th' affrighted fane-- 

Swords, axes r racks beftrew the purpled floor; 
The clotted altars blufh with human gore ; 
Grim Terrors, Panic Fears furround the fhrine ; 
The wild Enthufiaft feels the flame divine ; 
Sad Melancholy fighs for ever there, 
And in her dreary dungeon raves defpair. 



[ 35 ] 

A madding Rout around 
By turns devoutly curfe, devoutly pray, 
For God they cancel faith, for God betray, 
For God infuriate deal the deathful wound. 
Affection, Pity, Nature plead in vain ; 
The Friend is facrific'd, the Brother flain ! 
While the fond Sire, by pious rage pofTeft, 
Drives the fell dagger to the Daughters breaft ! 

Aghafl the Seraph turn'd his tearful eye, 
Beat his fad breaft, and fought again the iky. 



F 2 



[ ™ ] 



ODE TO DELTA SINGING. 

Parent of winning grace, and thrilling joy, 

Celeftial Harmony, on high 
On her fweet folemn-founding fpheres enthron'd. 
Melts into melody the Cherub's tongue, 
Kindles the raptur'd Seraph's glowing fong, 
And turns th' eternal wheels of Nature round. 

When jarring atoms wag'd inceflant wars, 
Ere flam'd the glories of the golden ftars, 
Ere yet the bright imperial fun 
" In his majeftic center fhone, 
She touch'cl the living lyre — the fwelling found 
Warbled thro' Chaos' dreary realms around. 
Charm'd Tumult funk in filence — the rough feas 
Of mingled matter, feas without a fhore, 
Reprefs'd their foaming rage, and ceas'd to roar, 
Calm as old Ocean heaving; to the breeze. 
From the rude mafs obedient to her fong 
Order, and Life, and Soul, and Beauty fprung. 

Wild Difcord heard, and murm'ring fled; 
Deep in the dark abyfs me plung'd her head; 
There, bound for ever in a brazen chain, 
With Hate, and Rage, and Hell fhe raves in vain, 
And univerfal Peace afllimes her placid reign. 

'Twas fhe o'er Delia's fhape, and face, 
And air, and motion, fhed enchanting grace; 



[ 37 ] 

To her own fphery chimes attun'd her tongue, 
And breath' d into her breaft the foul of fong. 
While in the nobler mufic of her mind, 
(Refult of mental, moral charms combin'd, 
Whate'er can elevate, delight, endear) 
We fee with faireft evidence appear 
The Pow'r, that fpreads, below, around, above, 
Order, and grace, and tunes the world to love. 

When new to life, our Sire was laid 

On mother earth's embroider'd bed, 
The fountain's flow'ry verge along, 

While with foft-murm'ring melody 
The tinkling rill ran queruloufly by, 

And tun'd its wild unvaried fong, 

W r ith fixt attention lull'd to hear 

He liften'd with delighted ear, 
Or thrill'd with pleafure, while the breeze above, 

Whofe fpicy breath perfum'd the grove, 
Among the branches mufically play'd, 
And harmoniz'd the trees that trembled o'er his head. 

But when of Angel-guards the hymning Quire 
(Unfeen by his terreftrial eyes,) 
Sweetly touch'd the facred lyre, 
He ftarted up with wild furprize, 

And all his foul was loft in pleafing extacies ; 

Raptur'd, he thought the God, he fought, was found, 

His voice he deem'd it, and ador'd the found. 



[ 38 ] 

Thus, Delia! when, with kindred zeal infpir'd, 
To themes divine you confecrate your tongue, 
And with your Maker's praife exalt the fong, 
We feel our breafts with new emotions fir'd ; 
Lift'ning to the heav'nly ftrain 
Common founds intrude in vain; 
With facred love our foften'd fouls o'erflow, 
Or with fublime enflam'd devotion glow. 

Tir'd Care forgets her toils, 
And Sorrow wipes her dewy eyes, and fmiles. 

Fair Nymph! proceed — the nobleft hints infpire, 
From vulgar cares the fordid foul refine, 
Touch the cold bofom with a heav'nly fire, 

And raife our Human to Divine ! 
You give Religion greater grace to pleafe, 
And lend her awful truths melodious eafe ; 
Severe in others me commands, alarms, 
And chills with look auflere the trembling breaft; 
In you me like a tuneful Angel charms, . 
And tempts us to be good, and wins us to be bleft. 



[ 39 ] 



TO A YOUNG LADY ON HER BIRTH-DAY. 

Be this aufpicious day for ever bleft ; 

May fav'ring Phoebus mark it from the reft, 

Ever brightest to appear 
Among the mining children of the year; 
On this — may wretches never breathe their woes, 
May grief a refpite find, and care repofe ? 

When firft the confcious ikies 
Saw on the world thy dawning beauty rife ! 
And ever bleft be Thou without alloy 
With each rare boon of excellence and joy, 
Which to its chofen few, the Good, are giv'n 
By the rich bounties of indulgent Heav'n ! 

Bleft — not that Beauty deck'd thy fav'rite frame 
With ev'ry charm that fets the foul on flame, 
Hues, that the rofes of the morn outvie, 
And the foft languors of the melting eye ; 
Bid magic grace in ev'ry motion flow, 
And round your lips in fmiles etherial glow ? 
And moulded in your fhape with juft defign 
The nice proportions of her waving line ; 
But that, fublimely negligent of thefe, 

On the graces more refin'd 

Of the heav'n-defcended Mind, 

You build a nobler praife I 

Bleft— that, while others in life's blooming ipring. 
To crown her brainlefs head 



I 40 ] 

To Folly's fane their rofeate bloflbms bring, 

And their vernal treafures fbed 

On lansfhins; Pleafures idle bed — 
The faireft. flow'rs of beauty and of youth 

You in immortal garlands twine, 
And hang their honours round the facred fhrme 

Of Piety and Truth ! 
While Learning's lore your giddy Sex defpife, 
Too gay to think, too charming to be wife, 
O bleft — who ftill with happiefr. art unite 
Science with eloquence, and truth with wit, 
And lend Philofophy your beauty's aid, 
Your grace to pleafe, your fweetnefs to perfuade ! 

Thus fome majeftic Grecian temple ftands, 
With beauty charms us, and with awe commands; 
Each part compos'd the critic eye to pleafe; 
Great without vaftnefs, regular with eafe ; 
And where at once harmonioufly combine 
Juftnefs of art, and boldnefs of defign; 
Where with the Loves and Graces plac'd, we view 
Minerva, and the Mufes too. 

Proceed, my Fair! advance in ev'ry art, 
That wins the judgment, while it warms the heart. 
Be in thy bofom's hallow'd verge combin'd, 
AH that can elevate, or charm Mankind ! 



[ « 1 

May Heav'n's own image fhine ferencly fair! 
May Heav'n's own raptures glow for ever there! 
Rever'd, and lov'd on earth— approv'd by Heav'n, 

Enough— enough is giv'n: 
Let Folly, Pride, and Av'rice fhare the reft, 

Be virtuous-- and be bleft ! 



[ 42 ) 



ODE TO NOVELTY. 

Hail Novelty, whofe vagrant dyes 

All wildly float on Fancy's eyes! 
Thine are the colours, that the clouds invert, 
When o'er the flues they fpread their fplendid train, 
While in majeftic glory down the weft 

Bright Phoebus bends his glitt'ring wain ; 

Still in a thoufand forms array'd 

Of ever-changing light, and fhade, 
Now their gray robes a filver Ikirt unfold, 
And now in purple blufh, now glow in flaming gold. 

Thine is the tranfitory ray, 
Which thro' the pale night darts, and dies away ; 
Thine is the labyrinth's illufive maze ; 
The rill, that in meand'ring current rtrays ; 
Now glide its filent waters fmooth and flow ; 
Now chide, and murmur thro* the vocal vale ; 
Now from the rteep the cryftal curve they throw, 
Loud raging 'mid the rocks, and dafhing down the dale, 

While thy fweet witchcraft fafcinates the fight, 
The rude can pleafe, the terrible delight. 

The craggy clifF, whofe pendant brow 
Nods o'er the formidable depths below; 

The fpacious foreft, wafte and wild, 
Where flumbers Silence, Nature's favage child, 



[ 43 ] 

Or Melancholy wand'ring weeps alone, 

And makes to fenfelefs woods her lamentable moan; 

Rocks pil'd on rocks in rough terrific pride, 

O'er-hung with thickets hoar; 
The deaf'ning cataracl's tremendous roar, 
That down the lofty precipice's ride 
Flings the vaft volume of its frothy tide ; 
The billows beating on the bell' wing ftrand, 

When the foul Spirit of the florins 
Howls in the blacken'd (ky, the deep deforms, 
And drives the feas in mountains to the land ; 
The yawning gulph, the cavern's awful frown, 
And gloomy clefts with fhaggy fliades o'ergrown, 
From Thee derive a charm, and beauties not their own. 

'Tis to thy wizard wand we owe 

The deareft. joys of life below ; 

Thine the inexpreflive grace, 
That plays on beauty's foul-inipiring face. 

Take thy fairy charm away, 

Beauty fheds a languid ray ; 
Love's foft enchantments weaken by degrees, 
And Plcafure lofes all her power to pleafe. 

When Adam, firft emerging into day, 

Open'd his eyelids to the dazzling ray, 

And Nature rofe refulgent on his fight, 
In all her richeft colours dreft, 
Her Maker's charms divinely bright 
Upon her infant form impreft, 
g 2 



[ 44- ] 

Upftarting from his parent ground 
With eye intent he gaz'd 
O'er earth, o'er ikies, above, below, around, 
In fweet confufion raptur'd, and amaz'd. 

Where'er thro' Eden's blooming groves he ftray'd, 
New beauties {till their varying grace difplay'd ; 
The woodbine bow'r, the fountain murm'ring by, 
The diftant hills, that mingled with the fky, 
The flow'ry vefture of the vernal plain, 
Heav'n's azure arch, the morn's etherial glow, 
The landfcape floating on the lake below, 
Touch'd his glad heart, and thrill' d in ev'ry vein: 
But chief the Lord of day's afcending blaze 
Sufpends his ardent gaze. 

But when familiar to the fcene 
The magic of furprize decay'd, 
The azure vault, the flow'ry green 
With lefs'ning tranlport he furvey'd ; 

O'er blooming groves he glanc'd his carelefs eyes; 
The purling fount, that murmur'd by, 
No longer roll'd in melody, 

And without wonder funs might fet, or rife. 

Fancy, ever fond of change, 
Free and unconfin'd would range ; 
New wimes ftill, new hopes, new ardors rife ; 
From joy to joy me flies, 



[ 45 ] 

RefHefs, infatiate — the fhort rapture part, 
She hates this moment, what fhe lov'd the lafr, 
Of one vaft world exhaufts the mighty ftore, 
Then, like the Macedonian, fighs for more. 

Short, ah ! fhort is Beauty's reign f 
Quick the guft of Pleafure flies ! 
So did Sov'reign Fate ordain, 
The doom of all beneath the fkies. 
But Virtue, offspring of immortal kind, 

Is not to mortal laws confin'd. 
While Nature mourns, while mourns her pupil Art 
Their faint tints fading on the fick'ning fight, 
In adamantine chains fhe holds the heart, 

And bounds wild Fancy's roving flight ; 
Her charms the more enjoyed, the more improve, 
And ev'ry look ftill more inflames our love. 

Far, far above this lower fphere,, 
Where moon-crown'd Mutability prefides, 
Rolls the fwift feafons round the various year, . 

And fwells, or finks the changing tides, 
And bids the ftream of life alternate flow, 
Or calm with joy, or turbulent with woe, 
The Goddefs reigns — where her eternal Sire 
From his own flame fupplies her veftal fire, 
And Immortality inwreathes her head 
With laurel ever-green, and flow'rs that never fade. 



t 46 ] 



ODE TO DIVINE WISDOM. 

ImmensEV all-animating Mind ! 
Whofe ever-a£tive vigour reigns 
Thro' fpace, and nature's wide domains, 
By time and matter unconfm'd ; 
Ere yet the planets hung felf-pois'd in air, 

Or ftars emblaz'd the flaming fphere, 
Thou reign'dft alone, felf-known, felf-bleft, 
Beholding in thy boundlefs bread 
The forms and fair ideas rife 
Of future earths, and future ikies. 

There worlds to come in liquid ether roll'd ; 

There future funs array'd in gold, 
O'er planetary realms ordain'd to fway, 
Difpens'd to nations yet unborn the day ; 
There the red comet, thro' the defart fpace, 
Urg'd wildly regular his blazing race. 
Thou faw'ft fucceffive fyftems rife, and die, 

And in harmonious order lie, 
Whatever was, or is, or e'er mall be, 
All the great fcenes of dread Eternity. 

Thou gav'ft th' omnific word — the new-born light 
Burft from the bofom of primeval night ; 
O'er wond'ring Chaos glow'd the golden ray, 
And choirs celeftial hail'd the rifino; dav ; 
Obfequious planets circled round their fun, 
Their motions various, but their centre one. 



[ 47 I 

Striking on Nature's fympathetic firings 

From Thee, myfterious Pow'r, from Thee 

Flow all th' unnumber'd modes of harmony, 

And Form unfolds, and beauteous Order fprings. 

Angels with joy thy ruling word obey, 

And all but Man is fubjecl: to thy fway ! 

He from his orbit wanders lawlefs ftill, 

And owns no lord but his excentric will. 

When Mortals, urg'd by driving paffions on, 

In chace of pleafure to their ruin run, 
Thou cairft aloud " beware l" 
And feel'ft a Mother's care, 

Yearning, when on the high clifPs hanging brow, 
Her child fhe fees unguarded ftray, 
And dare the brink in wanton play, 

While pointed rocks arife, and billows beat below* 

In vain from thy parental voice they fly, 
Where Folly, trick'd in antic foppery, 

Shakes her mrill bells with ideot face, 
And thicken round the fimp'ring Queen, 
As bees, when fummon'd by the founding brafs, 
In dulky fwarms are feen. 

See Kings, and Crowds advance, 
And mitred Priefts, and Statefmen fage, 
Green Childhood run, and creep decrepid Age, 
To form her gay fantaftic dance ; 
Join'd hand in hand, with Frolic wild, 
And Laughter, Folly's darling child. 



r « ] 

The rev'rend Sire, in bridal pomp array'd, 
Leads on with quiv'ring hand the youthful maid, 
While am'rous rofes on his wrinkles bloom ; 
Totters awhile the giddy circle round, 
In hobbling meafure to the frantic found, 
Then trips into the tomb. 

Now Fancy waves in air her magic wand ; 
A thoufand Phantoms rife at her command, 
Gilded by falfe Opinion's glaring ray, 
In vifionary beauty gay. 
See Glory her red ftandard rear, 
High flaming o'er her trophied car ! 
Ambition here her waxen pinion plies, 
And in idea cleaves the clouds and fkies, 
On daring wing fublime fhe foars to fame, 
Soon — foon to fall, and give fome fea a name. 
There Pleafure lolling on her rofeat bed, 
Arabian odours breathing round her head, 
Darts through the thrilling foul her wanton fire, 
And melts e'en rigid Virtue to defire. 
The glitt'ring virions flop the rifing Soul, 
And bend her from the Ikies, her deitin'd goal ; 
Eager fhe gives the mining fhadows chace, 
Which tempt, and cheat by turns her fond embrace* 



How vaft the Human Soul, 
Whofe heav'n-defcended energy afpires, 
Beyond the bounds of this fublunar pole, 
Beyond the folar road, and empyrean fires ! 



[ & ] 

Yet this fubltme, immenfe, immortal pow'r, 

When foaring at Heav'n's loftieft tow'iy 
Down, down a little glitt'ring claj 
Can draw from its etherial way, 
Or one foft flatt'nng lull 

Pollute its noblefr. glories in the duft. 

Ah, Man ! what jarring parents form'd thy birth ? 

Thou child of Heav'n and Earth ! 
Nature fo mixt, what reafon iliall define ! 

Half brutal, half divine ! 
Thus fabled Demigods renown'd of yore, 
Whom Mortal Beauties to Immortals bore, 

By deeds of glorious fame 
Prov'd the high fource from whence their virtues came ; 
While in their frailties ftill appear'd to view, 
The features of the Mortal Mother too. 

Reafon, that beam of Heav'n, by Heav'n aflign'd 
To raife the fruits of virtue in the mind, 
Receiv'd by wretched Man's perverted will, 
Shines to no ufe — or only mines to ill. 

Thus oft the Solar ray 
Gilds but the muddy lake, or barren clay. 
Or only warms the richer foil to breed 
The plant of poifon, and the worthlefs weed. 
Or in the covert of the prickly brake 
Inflames with fiercer rage the deadly make.. 

The Paffions fway — the tyrants of the Soul, 
Deaf to advice, difdainful of controul, 

H 



[ 50 ] 

'Break ev'ry tie, and leap o'erev'ry bound, 
And with blind ardor rage, and madden round. 
Hence the rough tempeft, hence the waves of woe, 

That whelm the world below, 
Extort the Poor man's plaint, the Widow's cry, 
And draw from Mifery th' inceffant figh. 
The lull of Lucre and the luft of Pow'r 
Still prowl, like wolves, to plunder, and devour, 
Or Demons ruining from th' infernal cell, 
To make this beauteous world another Hell. 

While Man thus devious {trays 
In Folly's dance, or Fancy's fairy maze ; 
While in the raging feas of Paffion toft, 

His nobler powers are loft ; 

O to thy facred feat, 
Celeftial Wifdom ! lead my wand'ring feet, 
And to my view unveil the beams, that fhine 

Around thy fun-bright ihrine. 

'Tis thine to form the God; 
The nectar thine, and thine th' ambrofial food, 
Which keep th' Etherials deathlefs, and divine. 

'Tis thine the tender infant Mind to mould, 

And fpread her op'ning pow'rs, 
Like vernal funs, that nurfe the new blown flow'rs, 
And in full glow their blufhing bloom unfold. 
'Tis thine her intellectual growth to feed 
With facred truth, and fentiment refin'd, 
To prompt the noble ends, that Heav'n defign'd, 
The godlike purpofe, and the gen'rous deed. 



t 51 ] 

When growing, rip'ning, on me feels at length 
Her full-fledg'd pinions, and immortal ftrength,. 
By thee her rapid plumes are pois'dfor flight ; 
Then to the fource of beauty, blifs, and light 

She lifts aloft her eagle eye, 
And.fo.ars, and brightens to Divinity, 



H 2 



[ 52 ] 



TO DIVINE LOVE, 

Hail Love Divine ! Ere glow'd the golden iky, 

Ere yet the Cherub's harp was tun'd on high, 

Or flam'd the Seraph's fire — thou mad'ft abode 

In the bleft bofom of thy Parent God. 

In that great inftant of Eternity, 

When his dread will decreed, that time fhou'd be, 

He bound heav'n, earth, and main 
In thy immenfe, immortal, magic chain. 
Thy Spirit, breathing thro' the boundlefs Whole, 
Gave form to matter, energy to foul. 
From thee thy heaven's eternal raptures flow; 
And all of beauty, all of blifs below. 

Yet while in fweet accordant meafures move 
The planetary choirs above ; 
While all to one great center draw 
Of Love, their univerfal law ; 
Shall Violence, that fcorns a bound, 
Still wafte this mourning world around? 
Shall rebel Vice make void the grand defign, 
And wild Diforder break the plan divine r 

The Mufe's ear what clangors wound 

Of clafhing arms from far ! 
From diftant mores what difmal found 

The burden'd echos bear ! 



[ 53 ] 

The helplefs Virgin's agonizing cries, 

The Widow's fhrieks, that rend the fkies, 
Bid Pity's tear to flow. 
At fcenes of varied mifery diflreft 

Deep fighs the fympathetic breaft, 
And feels for others woe. 

For mad Ambition fee — with Hell combin'd; 
To crufh the rights and freedom of Mankind 
In dread array fhe ranks her furious hoft. 
As when the fierce Tornado fweeps 
The Caribbean deeps, 
And ftrews a thoufand keels along the foaming coaft 5 
Heav'n thunders — bellows ocean — fhakes the fhore, 
From ifle to ifle refounds the loud rough roar, 
Wild Defolation rufhes o'er the land, 
And giant Horror {brides from ftrand to ftrand. 

Thus rufhing onward on her clatt'ring car, 
She founds aloud the rage-inciting fong, 

And leads the Fiends along. 
Rapine, with harpy fangs, wide-wafting War, 
That lets her bloodhounds loofe to range before, 
On human flefh to feed, and lap the gore, 
Defpotic Sway, relentlefs as the ftorms, 
And ghaftly Death, in all his thoufand forms. 
At her approach the beams of Science fade, 
Freedom, and Honour fall, and Virtue hides her head. 
See her red banners blazing to the iky ! 
Embattled legions round them bleed and die. 



[ ** ] 
See, fee her flaming fword difplay'd ! 
O'er the green land fhe waves the blade, 

And o'er the filver flood ; 
With horrid devastation wide 
Blafts all the champain's blooming pride, 

And turns the ftream to blood,. 

How wafte and defolate that fair domain, 
Where golden Plenty fmil'd upon the plain, 
And Peace and Freedom held their focial reign ! 
How mute the chearing mufic of the groves,. 
The Shepherd's whittle wild, and ruftic lovesj 
To his coy Damfel caroll'd without art, 
Yet warm, and guiltlefs from a guilelefs heart ! 
Now filent treads the Swain, with lift'ning ears* 
In ev'ry brake a lurking foe he fears ; 
Starts the pale trembling Maid 
At burnifh'd lances glitt'ring in the made! 

Hark! the loud war-whoop howls from yonder wood, 
Shakes ev'ry nerve, and chills the freezing blood ! 
From diftant villages the flames afpire, 
Glare on the ftreams, and fet the ikies on fire* 

Swift as the panting deer 
From the keen hound, and ruthlefs hunter's lpear, 
The wretched relics of the {laughter fly, 
Rufhing thro' driving fnow-ftorms, wing'd with fear, 

To woods and deferts drear, 
Beneath the fury of the wintry fky, 
There houfelefs, fhiv'ring to the frozen air, 
Pine the flow prey of hunger, and defpanv 



[ 55 ] 

'Tis folitude — 'tis terror all around! 

Grim-vifag'd Murder {talks along the ground, 

And dying groans are heard, and favage yells refound ! 

Revenge, in woody glooms conceal'd from day, 

Couch'd, like a tiger, waits the unwary prey, 

Then fudden fpringing with his brandim'd dart 

Tears from the mangled breaft the quiv'ring heart. 

Nor blamelefs Youth's fair-blooming years, 

Nor palfied age can pity find, 
Nor female grace, nor Beauty's pleading tears 
To ought of mercy melt the favage mind, 
Stern ftands the dire Affaffin; — " Spare, O fpare 
" That infant innocence !"— in vain the pray'r ! 
In vain the Mother's pangs, and piercing cries ! 
Fixt on the bloody point it writhes, and dies ! 

Heav'n! is thy vengeance then a founding name? 

Sleep all thy thunders ? quench'd is all thy flame ? 
Shall bold Oppreffion ftill defy 
The wrath, and juftice of the fky? 
No ! there's an awful hour, 

When injur'd Innocence (hall mourn no more. 

This doom Eternal Juftice has decreed, 

" Proportion'd wrath to ev'ry guilty deed." 

Tremble, ye Defpots ! thron'd in idol ftate, 
Like Pagan Demons, mifchievoufly great, 
Drunk with ambition, by no ties confin'd, 
Who turn the Furies loofe to fcourge mankind, 



[ 50 ] 

With (laughter'd myriads load the crimfon'd ground, 

And fling the brands of deiblation round; 

Who, like the Lybian fun's deftruclive rays, 

Rage o'er , a walled realm, and burn, wheree'er ye blaze! 

Amid the pleafures of the genial hour, 

The glare of grandeur, and the pride of pow'r. 

Know, that th' Avenging Angel waits on high 

Th' Almighty's final frown ; 
The bolt already kindles in the iky 

To blaft your blooming wreaths, and dam your glories down. 
What tho' triumphal monuments ye raife 
To make immortal your detefted' praife, 
What tho' to heav'n's empyrial vault afpire 
Your gilded domes with rival fplendors crown'd, 
Soon, foon Deftruction, with her tongue of fire 

Shall lick them from the ground. 

Father of all! whofe univerfai care 

The greater!, meaner! natures fhare s 

Whofe goodnefs on an equal plan 

Regards the Seraph, and the Man,. 
Whofe awful fiat from primeval night 

Call'd order, beauty, life, and light, 

And matter, motion, form, and mind 

In one amazing whole combin'd, 

O ! from thy ftar-emblazon'd throne 

Upon a wafted world look down, 
A world, thy hand with rich abundance blefr,. 

And rob'd in Beauty's radiant veil I 



[ 57 ] 

Which when thine eye delighted view'd,. 
And faw thy own ideas there, 
Sublimely great, or fweetly fair, 
Thy fov'reign word pronounc'd it good! 

Arife at length in thy refiftlefs might ! 
Arife in Liberty's and Virtue's right! 
Silence wild Difcord's loud frenetic found, 

That makes, the world around ! 
Sweep from the earth thofe prowling dogs of war, 
And ftrike the Tyrant from his trophied car ! 
In her own Hell's eternal fetters bind 
Blood-ftain'd. Ambition,., foe to human-kind I 

Bid from her azure feat defcend 
Sweet Charity, the gen'ral Friend; 
With gentle influence to controul 
The fury-pamons of the foul: 
Her warm benevolence impart, 
The gen'rous aim, the feeling heart, 
The tender fympathetic figh, 
And the foft dews of Pity's eye. 

Break Superflition's magic fpell, 
And drive the gloomy Demon down 
In her own native fhades to frown 
With Horror, Cruelty, and Hell ; 
May Piety her rights regain, 
And o'er according nations reign ! 



[58 ] 

Attendant- on her fov'reign ftate 
May all the daughter Virtues wait ! 
May earth, and all her hundred feas, 
Become one Temple of thy praife, 
The glorious dwelling of thy Grace, 
And Britain be its Holieft Place ! 



[ 59 ] 



ODE TO RELIGION. 

Fairest Daughter of the iky !.. 

On whofe majeftic brow 
Divine unutterable glories glow, 
While round thy rofy lip, and placid eye, 
Love and the fmiling Graces ever play, 
Temp'ring the blaze of thy eternal day — 
Religion, hail! Thou fource of hallow'd fires, .. 
Joys ever pure, and fanftified deiires ! 

Beneath the brown-rob'd wood, 
Where Contemplation fits in mufing mood, 
Sooth'd by the hollow gales, and falling flood, 
What time the fun to other realms is roll'd, 
And Eve's bright tints of purple and of gold 
Faint flowly from the weflern fkies away, 

While Cynthia's milder face 
Shoots thro' th' unfolding clouds a fUver ray, 
And o'er the landfcape fheds a fofter grace, 
Far from the world's delufive fcene I fly 

To woo thee from thy native fphere, 
To catch the beamings of thy heav'n-bright eye, 

Thou pleafing awful Fair ! 

There oft methinks I hear the ftreams along 
The melody of thy mellifluous fong, 
Whofe tuneful whifperings fufpend the foul, 
And ev'ry power in pleas'd attention lull, 

12 



I 60 ] 

Like thofe high airs of a fuperior fphere 
'Which thrill'd in Adam's fond delighted ear, 
While favour'd yet with Innocence to rove 

In Eden's blifsful grove ; 

Lift'ning, while the guardian Quire 
To facred raptures touch'd the heav'nly lyre, 
Where'er he trod entranc'd, above, around, 
He heard the folemn, fweet, ecftatic found; 
Now the bold notes in loftier meafures play'd, 
In foften'd tones now warbled thro' the fhade, 
And fill'd with melody the midnight vale; 

Now languishing away 

In gradual, flow decay, 

Died on th' expiring gale. 

now be prefent, iky-rob'd Maid, 
In thy divinefr. fmiles array'd ! 
Now let my bofom feel thy power, 
And confecrate this folemn hour, 
When freed from bufy fcenes, and noife, 

1 leek thy foul-reviving joys ! 
To outward mews averfe, of praifes my, 
Thou veil' ft thy beauties from the public eye ; 
Thy charms the Wife in calm retirement own, 

Still lov'd, and valued more, the more they're known. 

'Tis thine fecure the fickle heart to guide, 

And keep the paffions frill on Reafon's fide, 

To clear from error's mill the mental fight, 

Refine our joys and fanclify delight, 

Eafe the (harp pangs of pain, our griefs affuage, 

Embellim youth, and dignify our age, 



t 61 1 

To godlike excellence exalt mankind, 
And ftamp her Maker's image on the mind. 



O bleft, whofe Soul thy vivid beauties charm, 
Thy aims ennoble, and thy raptures warm ! 

He taftes of blifs below, 
Which wealth cou'd never buy, nor grandeur know. 
His is the fmiling Saint's unruffled reft, 
His the pure flame, that burns the Seraph's breaft. 
For him meand'ring from the eternal throne 
Heav'n's ever-living rills of pleafure run: 
For him fhe opens all her fecret bow'rs, 
Brightens her ikies, and culls unfading flow'rs. 

When dire Ambition calls the world to arms, 

And frantic Difcord founds her loud alarms, 

While fwell'd from realm to realm, from more to more. 

O'er half the globe her peals of horror roar, 

And like a flumb'ring lion from his lair 

Aroufe the Fiend of war, 
Their noife no more difturbs his tranquil joy, 
Than peevifh infants ftriving for a toy. 
In vain the world's tumultuous billows roll 

To fhake his ftedfaft Soul, 
Which in the breaft enthron'd, erect, ferene, 
Defies the fury of the foaming main. 
Bleft Genii thus, who range the fields of day, 
No wrecks of matter wound — unhurt they ftray 
Thro' fpheres of fire — and borne fecure on high, 
While the rude whirlwinds rufti around the Iky, 



I '62 ] 

Hear the hoarfe thunders roar without amaze, 
And fport amid the living lightning's blaze. 

Come then, propitious to my pray'rs, infpire 
The godlike fentiment, the gen'rous aim. 
From thy bright altar's unextinguifh'd fire 
Dart thro' my fervid breaft the heav'nly flame, 
To raife my pow'rs, my paffions to refine, 
'Till the drofs working by degrees away 
Shall leave th' immortal ether pure, divine, 

To rife, and mingle with its native day, 
O ftill thro' Life's pernicious fnares, 
And wafting toils, and pining cares, 
Smooth the rough road, my griefs beguile, 
And make e'en pain and anguifh fmile. 
And when I tread thro' Death's dread gloorn 3 . 
While Nature trembles o'er the tomb, 
Bid radiant beams of mercy rife, 
And foften my expiring fighs. 



[ S3 ] 



ON RETIREMENT. 

Far from the cares that vex the world's repofe, 

Here on my moffy couch I reft ; 
Reflection's limpid tide ferenely flows, 
And no rough paffions blufter in my breaft. 
The vernal bloom, that purples o'er the vales, 
This flow'ring arbour fann'd by cooling gales, 
The grove's wild warblings, and the chidings fhrill 
Of the rude ftreams, that wander at their will, 
And hill, and dale, and foreft, lake, and lawn, 
And light, and fhade, in fweet confufion thrown, 
Delight the foul to penfivenefs inclin'd, 
And footh to folemn thought the murine: mind. 

Here in thefe peaceful fcenes, 
Daughter of God, indulgent Nature reigns, 
Divinely fair ! as when her infant brows 
From the wild waves of teeming Chaos rofe, 
When choral Angels with a pleas'd furprize 
Hail'd the young luftre fparkling in her eyes, 
And in her radiant form, and lovely face, 
Saw their own heav'n with full reflected grace. 

Here ftill th' etherial Maid, 
In Beauty's fweet fimplicity array'd, 
Forms her imperial crown with fylvan flow'rs, 
And for her palace weaves her woodbine bow'rs. 



[ ^ ] 

Or on the fummit of yon mountain hoar, 

Lull'd by the cadence deep 
Of howling winds, that thro' the foreft roar, 
And rumbling torrents ruffling down the fteep^ 
She fits enthron'd — around her azure head 
Low low'ring clouds their folemn grandeur fpread,. 
Or now confeft in full unclouded day, 
Crown'd with the fplendors of the noontide ray,_ 
She mines in ftate — majefHcally plain, 
A pomp, which Pride would imitate in vain. 

Now to the Weft, while glides her finking fun. 
She culls her colours of the brighteft hue, 
Contrafted, blended, varying to the view, 
And pours their mingled glories round his throne, 
While on her wat'ry mirror we behold 
Her imag'd charms in fair reflected dyes, 
Green wave the groves, in azure gleam the ikies. 
And float the clouds, in fleecy volumes roll'd. 
That glow in rofy red, and flame in gold. 

The Virtues, happy from within, difdain 
Thofe toys of empty ftate, that pleafe the vain,. 
To fhine with Fortune on her slitt'ring car, 
Trimm'd round with ribbons, blazon'd with a ftar: 
Still fhy their modeft beauties to difplay 
In the full blaze of Grandeur's golden day; 
They dread of Courts the peftilential air, 
And fly the ferpent brood, that harbour there. 
Life's low fequefter'd walk delights them more, 
Rich in content, however fmall their ftore, 



[ 65 ] 

Vot'ries of Nature, bv her murm'ring rill, 

'J O ' 

O'er her green lawns, or in her bow'ring wood, 
Down her Hope vales, or up her high-brow'd hill, 
They trace in varied forms the Sov'reign Good ; 

Within their little Ipheres difpenfe 

Their beneficial influence, 
Like yonder llream, that from a fource conceal'd 
Plenty and bloom difFufes o'er the field ; 
And pleas'd with filent felf-approving joy, 
Strangers to Fame and Envy live, and die. 

For Virtue's ftill the fame obfcure, or known, 
Hid in a cot, or blazing on a throne : 
Clad iii her ruftic garb, and mean attire, 
The proud may fcorn her, but the wife admire. 
More grand and awful in the public fcene 
She acls with confcious dignity the Queen ! 
In humbler life me charms with gentler pow'r, 
And, while me awes us lefs, fhe pleafes more. 
While high on Lebanon's aerial brow 
The cedar's tall majeftic honours grow, 
The pride, and glory of the fylvan race, 
The Lily in her lowly bed, 
That coyly bends her beauteous head, 
Has her peculiar grace. 



K 



[ *6 3 



THE COMPLAINT. 

What Fate, or Chance combin'd 
Such various ills to vex our wretched kind, 
Among the creatures eminently curft, 
In reafon, rank, and mifery the firfr. ? 

Ah, Life! deceitful good! 
A rain-bow radiance coiour'd on a cloud ! 
Fair is thy dawn, and mild thy rifing morn, 
Which purple beams of dewy light adorn, 
Soft-breathing Zephyrs waft thee on thy way, 
And round the Graces dance, and Pleafures play : 
But tempefts foon difturb the fweet Serene, 
O'er-fhade the fkies, and fadden all the fcene. 
Fond Hope deludes us frill with blifs to come ; 
But, ah! her bloffoms perifh e'en in bloom ; 
Her rofy-glowing joys but gleam, and die; 
While difappointment, pain, and grief, and fear 
Cloud the gay brow, and force the ftarting tear, 
And rend the tortur'd breaft, and fwell the figh. 

Where's then thy glory, where thy boafted pow'r ! 

Great Lord of all below ! 
Endued with finer fenfe to feel the more, 
The dupe of Error, and the fport of Woe. 
Condemn'd to doubt, to forrow, and to pain, 

Is Man then made in vain? 



[ « ] 

Did Heav'n the godlike boon of Reafon give 
To tell him he is wretched, not relieve ? 
To high perfection bid his hopes afpire, 
Only to pine with unappeas'd defire ? 
And with illufive hopes his fancy cheat, 
To make his mifery the more compleat? 

Thus while I bade my penfive lyre complain 

In a fad defponding drain, 

By the tempeft-beaten more, 

Where a rock's projected brow 

Caft a folemn gloom below, 

And the rude wave's fullen roar 

To melancholy thoughts inclin'd 
A care-tormented mind, 
Methought my vifionary Genius rofe, 
Severe reproof fate low'ring in his look ; 
Flam'd the bright glories round his awful brows, 

And while he fternly fpoke, 
Deep thunders bellow'd thro' the blue profound, 
Loud howl'd the hollow caves, and fhook the fhades around. 

Forbear, ram Man, forbear! 
While yet thy rebel head the thunders fpare; 
Ere yet the dread avengers of their Lord, 
The lightnings hear th' irrevocable word 

To blaft. that impious thought, 
Which dares to charge Perfection with a fault. 

Go, range the ftars in order more divine, 
And bid the planets leave their deftin'd line ; 



[ S8 ] 

Bid the fierce flame thy ruling hand obey, 

Now hide in fullen fhades, and now reftore the day ; 

Round ocean raife thy adamantine mound, 

And tell the foaming waves — " be this your bound ;" 

The fwelling ftorras affwage, 
And bid the* thunders, when to reft, or rage, 
Wield Heav'n's own bolt, make Nature with thy nod, 
Then mount his throne, and dictate to thy God. 

But know — behind his clouded fhrine conceal'd^ 
In dread impenetrable darknefs veil'd, 
Repofe the mighty Myfteries of Fate ; 
There young Events their full-grown pinions wait,, 
'Till, by th' Eternal fummon'd into light, 
They wing their downward flight, 
To acl: his high decrees on Man below, 
To chear with bleffings, or to fink with woe. 
There Seraphs ftand around with filent awe, 
Nor dare the interdicted curtain draw. 

But Man, vain Man ! that reptile worm of earth r 
Juft from his kindred nothing crawl'd to birth, 
Blind as his brother Mole, prefumes to pry 
Beyond the limits of an Angel's eye: 

Borne on the waxen wings of pride 

Forbidden tracls he dares explore ; 

With hood-wink'd Ignorance his guide 
See him towards Heav'n's eternal turrets foar! 

But Heav'n's infuperable height 
Still mocks his weary wings, and feeble flight. 



1 



[ * ] 

This World is Virtue's School, ordain'd by Fate 
To train, and form her for a nobler ftate. 
The couch of Eafe, and Pleafure's rofeat bow'rs 
Retard her progrefs, and unnerve her pow'rs ; 
But toil, and pain, and forrow's fmarting rod 
The foft allurements of the fenfe controul, 
Correct ill habits, and confirm the good, 
And roufe to vivid acl her flumb'ring foul. 
Above thefe petty fcenes of hopes, and fears, 
Of joys, and cares, of laughter, and of tears, 
They point her flight to yon empyreal plains, 
Where Blifs unmix'd, immenfe, immortal reigns, 
Where Glory round the patient Victor's brow 
Twines her bright wreath,, and bids it ever glow. 

And mail the little care and pain 

Of this fhort tranfitory fcene, 

Its terrors and its toils combin'd, 
Subdue her heav'n-born energy of mind? 
No — while with glowing heart and kindling eyes 

She views the high eternal prize, 
To which her aims afpire, 
The ftorms and thunders of the world in vain 

Would rage her courage to retrain, 
Her ftedfaft hope to tire. 
Triumphant rifing to her bright abode, 

Like the Great Prophet to his God, 
She'll mount amid the whirlwind and the fire. 

Then follow Virtue — leave to Heav'n the reft- 
Submit, obey, be patient, and be bleft . 



t ™ 3 



PEACE OF MIND. 



AN ODE. 



Sweet Peace, divinely mild ! 

Fair Innocence's child ! 
With looks of rapture fuch as Seraphs wear, 

Come, graceful in thy hand 

Waving thine olive wand, 
And fpeaking melody, that charms Defpair ! 
-Come, and my paffions' bufy ftrife controul, 
Breathe thy foft airs, and fmooth my ruffled foul ! 

Here, while at Contemplation's fav'rite hour, 
The meek-ey'd Eve, what time the ling'ring light 
Yet glimmers o'er the fable of the night, 

I feel thy foothing pow'r, 
Be ev'ry blaft, that fhakes the rocking wood, 
Howls o'er the hill, and plows the furrow'd flood, 
Hufh'd into reft ; let Cynthia's fober beam 
Shed o'er the calm expanfe a filver gleam, 
And o'er the groves, and meads, and flumb'ring main, 

Deep folemn filence reign : 

Save let the Zephyrs breathe, 
Among the rufhes whilpering beneath; 
Save let the wild notes of the rippling rill 
In melancholy mufic tremble ftill ; 
And in hoarfe murmur roar, the vales around, 
The diftant cataract's inceftant found. 



[ 'I ] 

Thou fhunn'ft Ambition's proud tumultuous heart, 
Plotting to counteract fome rival's art, 

From project ft ill to project toft, 

'Till in the wild confufion loft ; 
Or tott'ring on the pinnacle of pow'r 

On Fortune's airy fteep, 
While the rude ftorms, and thunders round him roar, 
And trembling, left the fwelling blaft mould fweep 

His glories to the foaming deep. 

Vile Avarice, immur'd, alone, 
With midnight watches worn to bone, 
Starting at ev'ry found he hears, 
And turning pale with fancied fears ; 
Wan Jealoufy with fquinting eyes, 
And lift'ning ears, and louring brow s 
That in each nook, and corner pries. 
Exploring, what he dreads to know ;- 
And Envy, that with anguifh keen 
Feels the dire vulture gnaw within ; 
Dog-ey'd Refentment's boiling breaft, 
And pining Difcontent, unbleft 
In full fruition, aik thy aid in vain, 

For thou art ft ill of Virtue's train* 

To thee in vain the Tyrant prays s 

To give his anxious bofom eafe * 

Invoking fleep's averted pow'r 
On the gilt couch he lays his aching head, 
But black Sufpicion haunts the midnight hour 9 
And frowning Demons flit around the bed. 



[ 72 ] 

Now mufic's tuneful charm he tries 

To clofe his reft-forfaken eyes, 
In all her modes of varied harmony, 

And bids the plaintive lute confpire 

With the full-refounding lyre, 
To chear his madding mind with tempered melody. 

Borne aloft on rapture's tide 
With founding vigour now the numbers roll ; 

Tender tones now gently glide, 

And melt, and footh the foften'd foul. 
" Peace ! peace ! perturbed breafl ! 
" Let this fweet defcant lull thee to thy reft." 
It will not be — Then ftrike a bolder found 

Let the horn's mellow note 

In air wildly float, 

And wake the fhrill echos around : 
Or call the gay Graces, and laughing-eyed Pleafures 
To trip hand in hand to the pipe's merry meafures. 

But, ah ! each Matter-hand in vain 

Raifes, fwells, or finks the ftrain ; 

All is jarring joylefs din 

To the mind untun'd within; 
Still gnawing cares, and guilty fears forbid 
Lethean dew to light upon his lid. 

" Vengeance !" ftern-eyed Confcience calls - 
How the found his heart appalls ! 

See he ftarts, and flares around ! 
Ghaftly forms of euilt arife, 
Gory Ghofts with piteous cries, 

Pointing to the bleeding wound. 



[ a I 

" What's that face of anguifh there, 
" Pale as its furrounding fhroud ? 

" What that dagger, fhap'd in air, 
" Crimfon'd with a Brother's blood ?" 

Wild his burfting eye-balls roll ; 

Upright frauds his briftled hair ; 

Horror makes his inmofr. foul, 

Keen Remorfe, and grimDefpair. 
Again he ftrives his leaden eye to clofe, 
And care-worn nature fain wou'd feek repofe ; 
" Vengeance !" the ftern Tormentor howls again, 
And a new horror thrills thro' ev'ry vein. 

Where then may Peace erect her ftedfaft throne ? 
Within the pure, the pious breaft alone, 
Whofe gentle paffions, harmoniz'd by love, 
Are link'd to Man below, to God above : 
Spite of the boail of Luxury, and Pride, 

Within that narrow round — 
And only there — her Paradife is found, 
'Tis all a wafte and defert world befide. 
There fmiling bands of watchful Angels wait 
To guard her tranquil bow'rs and blifsful ftate, 
And from the hallow'd limits drive afar 
The Furies of the Soul, and bufy Fiends of Care. 

O bleft the Man ! whofe aims and ardors rife 
On Faith's ftrong pinions foaring to the Ikies ; 
Yet, while converfing here with want and woe,.. 
Acts the good Minifter of Heav'n below. 



[ 7 * ] 

The poor reliev'd, the widow's wrongs reclreft, 
The darken'd mind illum'd with heav'nly day, 
The fympathies, that footh the burden' d breafr, 
And wipe Affliction's tear away, 
Thefe mall like fragrant incenfe rife, 
Heav'n's fweet accepted facrifice. 
Thefe on the friendly geii'rous mind 
Will draw God's choicefl bleffings down ;. 
He'll mercy mow for mercies mown,, 
And ftill be kindefl to the kind. 



[ « ] 



FORTUNE AND VIRTUE CONTRASTED. 

What crouds with envy and amaze 

On Fortune's gilded minion wait ! 

While Flatt'ry weaves her venal bays 

To deify a Calf of State. 
Thus when in high proceffion led along, 
Crown'd with frefh garlands 'mid the gazing throng, 

Egyptian Apis low'd, 
The fhouting People haiPd the prefent Go.t>; 
At night uncrown'd, ungarnim'd, and undreft, 
His laughing Prieflhood faw him but a Beaft ! 

Nor need we envy thofe that claim 
The favours of the fickle Dame, 

She flatters moft the man me means to cheat ; 
The Wife her treach'rous prefents fhun, 
But Fools believe, and are undone, 

Nor know the barb beneath the Alining bait. 

She bids high-brow'd Ambition leave the land, 
And with propitious gales 

Drives o'er the boundlefs deep her fwelling fails, 

Only to drown her farther from the fbrand. 
Yet ftill miftaken men admire 
Her fatal toys, and glitt'ring fnares ; 
For thefe, delirious with delire, 
They weary Heav'n with ceafelefs pray'rs, 

i. 1 



[ <e ] 

Which he, fupremely wife, 
Here grants in vengeance, there in love denies.. 

Fortune may bid her golden circle glow 

Majeftic on the Monarch's brow, 
Trick up a witlefs Lord with borrow'd glare, 
And kindle on his breaft. a tranfkory ftar, 
Yet cou'd her boafted fplendors e'er impart 
Senfe to the head, or merit to the heart ? 
But modefr. Virtue borrows nought from ftate,. 
Draws from herfelf her grandeur, and her grace ? 

lluftrious, noble, great, 

Without a title, or a place. 
She fcorns the gaudy toys by Monarchs given ; 

Her honours are deriv'd from Heav'm 

O come, propitious Goddefs !. deign to dwell 
Within this rural made, and fimple cell ! 
There in a comely choir within 
May all thy happy train be feen, 
Calm paffions, cheerful Hopes, Defires refin'd, 
Friendship's warm glow, and Love to- Human-kind ! 
Come with thy bleft aflbciate of the Ikies, 
Fair Faith, with pinions ever-ftreteh'd to rife, 
Catching fome radiance from the world to come, 
Of my declining days to gild the gloom j 
As ev'ning funs, e'er yet they fink in night, 
Streak the gay clouds with gleams of purple light ! 
Here draw thy facred circle round, 
And blefs, and confecrate the ground. 



[ 77 I 

And from the hallow'd bounds exclude 
All but thy favour'd few, the Wife, and Good. 

Here feated on my mofly throne, 
I'd rule my mind, that kingdom of my own; 
Or mufe the murmur of the rills along 
In raptur'd thought, and build fome folemn fbng ; 
Or borne on Contemplation's wings on high 
To the bright walls, that bound my native fky. 
Above Ambition's rage, and Folly's din, 
I'd mark from far the hurtle of the Great,. 

The various turns of changing Fate ? 
Nor envy thofe that win. 

Thus on the hanging cliff fecure, the Swain- 
Views the vext furface of the ftormv main, 
And while beneath the boiiVrous furges roar, 
Lam the white rocks, and foam upon the fhore^ 
Beholds the wave-toft bark with pitying eyes, 
With pity hears the helplefs Pilot's cries : 
Nor wou'd exchange his lowly lot, 
His humble crook and ruftic cot, 
To tempt th' uncertain gales and faithlefs tides 3 
For all the glitt'ring gems and gold, 
That either India's bowels hold, 
Or Ocean's greedy bofom hides. 

For gems,, and gold, with all their dazzling glare., 
Can they compofe the troubled breaft of Care? 



M 



I 78 ] 

Extract of keen Remorfe the rankling dart ; 
Eafe the fharp pang, and heal the wounded heart ? 
Are theirs the confcious peace, the blifs refin'd, 
That fooths, and fills, and dignifies the mind? 
The freezing wretch might genial warmth asfoon 
Draw from the frigid gleamings of the moon. 
No, the Soul's fun-fhine, and the calm divine 
Are, Virtue ! only thine* 



r 19 



ODE TO NIGHT. 



Sunk is the fun, and on yon mountain-head 1 " 
Hangs the laft gleam of the declining day ; 
Fades ev'ry landfcape — deepens ev'ry fhade ;- 

The clouds, late golden, now are rob'd in gray.. 

And thine is now the rule, imperial Night ! 

All mildly fitt'ft thou on thy fhad'wy throne ; 
While Superilition, feiz'd with felf-afFright, 

Throws o'er thy brows a horror all her own.. 

Now to her monfter-breeding brain appear 
Vifions of woe, and hideous forms of fear, 

And figns, and portents, boding ills to come ; 
And flame-ey'd Goblins gliding o'er the green, 
And murder'd Ghofts with bleeding wounds are feen, 

And fcreech-owls heard, that tell her of the tomb. 

But mufing Wifdom feeks thy friendly made, 

To her more grateful than the glare of noon. 

She loves thy fober folemn charms array 'd 

With the pale glories of the penfive Moon. 

Fatigu'd with pleafures, or with cares oppreft, 

Tir'd of the Proud, the Vicious, and the Vain 3 

How joys my Soul, when wheel'd beneath the weft 
Sinks the gay fun, and hails thy gentler reign I 



[ M ] 

j* Impertinence's buz, and bufy wings, 
S Envy's loud-^JK^, and fly Detraction's flings, 
& The taunts of Infolence, the Wretch's woes, 

.The ftir and ftrr$e of Fortune and her tools, 
The roar of Riot, and the laugh of Fools, 

No longer interrupt her lov'd repofe. 

Then Wifdom clears her intellectual eyes, 

And elevates her aims to things Divine, 

Bids all the choir of Mental Graces rife, 

Bids all the charms of Moral Beauty mine. 

Silent are now the groves ; no fylvan throat 

Tunes its wild defcant, but the hoot I hear 

Of the lone owl, tho' no melodious note, 

Yet pleafing ftill to Contemplation's ear. 

The ftars bright-fparkling o'er th' etherial way, 
The moon's mild gleams, that ever quiv'ring play 

On the light rills, that warble, as they wind, 
Gales hollow-roaring, hoarfe-refounding woods, 
Rude hanging rocks, dread (hades, and darning floods, 

Exalt, and footh, and harmonize the mind. 

Then every rude emotion finks to reft, 

In gentler flow the tides of paffion roll, 

A folemn calm fteals o'er the foften'd breaft, 

And philofophic tranfport dwells the Soul. 

(flSTer Nature's ample field her Fancy ftrays, 

Thence her rich ftore of form, and colour brings, 
y With curious art combin'd a thoufand ways. 

And paints her beauteous images of things. 







[ 81 ] 

Now wantons wild in aromatic groves, 

Now the lone heath, and howling foreft roves, 

Penfive, and lift'ning to the fighs of wo 
Now fits fublime on Alpine heights enthronV 
'Mid the red blaze of lightnings flafhing, 

And hears redoubled thunders roll 

Now Horror's fhade fhe feeks, and central 

Her ghaftly-vifag'd Ghofts, and floods of fire^ 

Now joys in empyrean light to lave, 

And catch new rapture from the Seraph's lyre. 

Then welcome Night ! thou awful pleafing Fair ! 

While the Moon feems along the clouds to fail, 
Which round her throne like fleecy flakes appear, 
And now half hide her radiance, now reveal. 

Pride wants the fun her plumage to difplay, 
A Soul fublime from no material ray 

Draws her rich fplendors, or imbibes her joy ; 
Reafon's clear beam, and Virtue's flame divine 
Shall with their own eternal glories mine, 

When worlds and funs in endlefs darknefs die. 

And thou, Great Father ! guard my ileeping hours, 
Bid the wild war of ftriving paffions ceafe, 

Compofe in pleafing harmony my pow'rs, 

And o'er my throbbing bofom breathe thy p'eace. 

Thrice happy Souls, who thy protection mare ! 

. Virtue in thy paternal arms at reft 
Securely lies, as ftranger yet to fear 

The fuckling (lumbers on its mother's breaih 

M 




[ 82 ] 

Spirits, that hurl the thunders down the iky, 
Or drive the chariot of the ftorms on high, 

And make o'er trembling Guilt the fiery -rod, 
Oft bid their vengeful rage the Pious fpare ; 
E^en flames amid the gen'ral wreck revere, 

And pafs untouched, thofe Temples of their God, 



[ 83 ] 



THE FALL OF ZION. 



A LYRIC POEM. 



a 



a 



a 



It comes — it comes — the mighty day ! 
The mighty day of wrath and woe ! 
Slaughter, Havock fpeed their way ! 
Yawns the gulph of Hell below ! 
'Tis pail—the juft — the dread decree ! 
Zion ! wide it yawns for Thee ! 
" Soon among the Giant Dead *, 
" Whom ten-fold chains of darknefs hold, 
" By the wild wave whelm'd of old, 
" Low muft lie thy haughty head. 
" What fcenes of horror open on my eye ! 
" 1 fee the fpear of Vengeance pois'd on high, 
" With the red lightning wing'd— her creft of fire, 
" Her fword with anguifh edg'd — her arrows tipt with ire." 

" Dolt thou, ftill blazing in imperial pride, 
" On pomp's refulgent car fublimely ride, 
" Stop to the widow's plaint th' obdurate ear, 

" And mock the moaning orphan's tear ; 

* The Jews feem to have had a notion that the Rephaim or Giants, men of great 
ftature and ftrength, who filled the earth with violence before the flood, and were 
overwhelmed in- that general deftruclion, were imprifoned in Sheol in chains of dark- 
nefs, referved to the judgment. To which may allude Job, c. xxvi. 4. Gr. verlion, 
and Chald. which feems to be more proper than our own, which indeed is not very- 
intelligible. The other verfions alfo agree with the Greek: Vulg. " ecce gigantes 
gemunt." 

M 2 



\y 



[ 84 ) 

" Or laugh at eafe in joy's luxuriant bow'r, 
" While the brifk viol chears the feftal hour ; 
" Or drain from bowls of gold the fparkling wine, 
" The boair. of Lebanon's, or Helbon's vine ; 

" Or on the downy Tyrian bed, 
" Sabean odours breathing round thy head, 
" Give thy warm wifhes loofe to wanton love ? 

" Know, tho' thy daring thoughts defpife 
" The Sage's voice, the Prophet's cries, 
" There's thunder, and a God above." 

'Twas thus, by Salem's hallow'd fide, 
In plaintive Notes a Prophet fung, 
Where Kedron's gloomy waters ling' ring glide 
Thro' the deep dale with fhaggy fhades o'erhung. 
Oft turn'd with fad prefage his ilreaming eyes, 
Where the famed Temple's awful domes appear, 
High o'er the fteep diffufe a golden glare, 
And fwell their rival grandeur to the Ikies. 
His Brethren round, opprefr. with equal fears, 
Catch from each other's eyes contagious tears. 

Long in deep filence figh'd the penfive band, 
'Till with new rapture touch'd, the facred Sire, 

Starting, with a harry hand, 

Snatch'd again the founding lyre. 

Then, fill'd with all the God, 
Thro' ev'ry vein diviner ardour glow'd ; 
Tloll'd his fierce eye-balls, fwell'd his heaving breafr. 

By th' ecftatic pow'r opprefr. ; 



L 85 ] 

His fingers then with carelefs air he flings 

Aci ofs the golden firings, 
And bids in varied mode the meafures flow, 
Now rapid, loud and wild, now folemn, foft and flow. 



" Hark ! it is the clarion's found! 
Float on the hollow gales the fhrill alarms ; 
The hills, the vales, the rocks rebellow round 

" To arms ! to arms ! to arms ! 
Loud, and more loud the fwelling clangors rife, 
Shake the wide earth, and thunder to the fkies° 

" The Nations tremble, as they hear; 

" Ev'ry face is pale with fear ; 
The Mother ftarts, with boding thoughts diftreft, 
Yearns o'er her babe, and ftrains it to her breafh 



a 



" Where Babel, tow'ring to imperial fway, 
" Lifts her proud glories to the gaze of day, 
" And old Euphrates laves her willowy fide, 

" I fee Heav'n's Angel ftand, 
" Th' avenging Angel — in his red right hand 

" He waves his burning brand, 
" With fierce reflection gleaming on the tide. 

" "He mounts his fcythed wain ; 

" He calls his dreadful train 

" 'To feaft on human food ; 
" Ambition, Difcord, Famine, and wild War, 
" Rage, Defolation, Death attend the car, 
" Rufhing o'er flaughter'd heaps, and bath'd in blood, 

" See from the North a fudden brightnefs beam ! 
u O'er yonder hills the fpreadihg luftres flream, 



f SG ] 
" Like meteors gleaming round the mountain brow, 

" Then flaming down the vale below. 
" Now fteeds and men I fee, a mining train ! 
" And brazen chariots light'ning o'er the plain. 
" On moves the hoft in firm, and dread array, 
" Their polifh'd bucklers burn againft. the dav, 
" And round their helms the dazzling fplendors play. 
" Amid their ranks Hell's horrid Forms appear, 
" Frown in the front, and ravage in the rear. 
" Behind like clouds the birds of ravine fly, 
" Prefcient of blood, and blacken all the fky. 
ct High waving o'ej' their heads, Jehovah's fword 
" Opliving flame, portending vengeance near, 
" Th' awaken'd vengeance of its injur' d Lord, 
Like a red comet kindles half the fphere, 

" Zion ! now for wrath prepare ! 
" Speak the figns of earth and air. 
" See the fun his golden light 
" Veil in fhades of fudden night ! 



a 



" Peals tremendous howl on high 



c 



3 



" All the concave feems on fire; 
" Flaming armies in the iky 
" Nov/ encounter, now retire : 
" Meteors red with flaming hair 
" Thro' the glowing ether glare ; 
46 Panic terrors flalk below ; 
" Hark ! a voice denouncing woe, 
" Thro' the Temple's vaulted round 
" Sends a mrill and folemn found ; 
" Depart," it cries, " Depart !" 
" And flrikes with chill amaze the bravefl heart." 



[ 87 ] 

There ceas'd awhile the Sire — his pow'rs oppreft, 
Exhausted, afk'd an interval of reft. 

A folemn paufe enfu'd ; 
Around in dread fufpenfe his audience ftood ; 
'Till rous'd again with frefh prophetic fire, 
New {trains of horror trembled on the lyre. 



a 



a 



a 



'Tis come— the mighty day ! how awful low'rs 

Its murky morn ! the works of death begin ! 

Without, the flame — without, the fword devours, 
" And famine waftes within. 
" Ah ! what a groan was there, 

As burfting from the bofom of Defpair ! 
" See o'er her famiih'd babe the Mother hang ! 
" Maternal fondnefs adding edge to woe, 
" Keen as her childbed's agonizing throe. 
" But, oh! my chill'd blood fhudders at the fight— 
" Refiftlefs hunger gives a fiercer pang. 
" Mother, forbear ! — Sun, hide thy trembling light ! 
" Blot out the deed accurft, Eternal Night ! 

" What new clangors ftrike my ear ! 

" 'Tis the clafh of arms I hear ; 

" Loud th' avenging Angel calls ; 

" See the battle bend its courfe, 

" Like the mountain-torrent's force, 
" To Salem's broken walls ! 
" Th' avenging Angel leads the foremoll: band, 
" Fires ev'ry heart, and ftrengthens ev'ry hand ; 
" His ftreaming banner cafls a crimfon blaze, 
" And flreaks the fable clouds with fanguine rays ; 



[ ss 1 
" O'er Zion's trembling hill he waves it high, 
" Heav'n's thunder in his voice, and lightning in his eye. 
" Before his fteps a thoufand terrors flride, 
" And gory Death grins ghaftly by his fide. 

" Now with victorious pow'rs 

" They fcale her conquer'd tow'rs; 

" The din of battle rends the air; 
" Shouts of triumph — woeful cries 
" Echo to the midnight fides, 

" And fhrilling fhrieks of wild defpair, 

" I fee — I fee this doleful flood 

" Rolling red with native blood ; 
" I fee th' expiring Father purpled o'er 

" With his flaughter'd Children's gore ! 

'* Behold the wedded Virgin's charms 

" Snatch'd from her bleeding Bridegroom's arms, 
" Her fond name lifping with his laft fad breath, 

" And clafping in the pangs of Death !" 

" See the fweet Babe upon its murd'rer fmile, 
" And flop his horrid rage awhile ; 
" Then on the groundfil dafh'd it dies, 
" Before its frantic Mother's eyes. 
*' In the dread filence of defpair 
11 The Mother flands, as turn'd to ftone, 
" Then looks to Heav'n a piercing pray'r, 
" To call th' avenging thunder dov/n, 
44 And fainting, falling on the nppgled clay, 
" Kiffes the pale cold lips, and fighs her foul away. 



[ 69 ] 

" Houfe of my God ! I fee th' unpit'ying fire 

" High o'er thy venerable domes afpire, 

" Refiftlefs rolls the naming deluge on, 

" Totter thy cracking tow'rs, and dafh with clangor down* 

" Thy courts of peace are fill'd with loud alarms, 

" Dying fhrieks, and claming arms, 
" Thy facred floors with flaughter'd Prophets ftrew'd, 
" And e'en thy mercy-feat, that awful ilirine 

" Of Majefty Divine, 

" With prieftly gore embru'd. 

" Joy of the earth ! where is thy beauty now ? 

" Where the proud grace that crown'd thy beamy brow ? 

" And ftate imperial ? forrowing I behold 

" Turret on turret roll'd, 
" And dome on dome in wild confufion hurl'd, 
" Like the vafr. wreck and relics of a world. 

" O name for ever dear ! 
" With fighs remembred, utter'd with a tear, 
" Fall'n art thou Salem ! mingled with the dufl ! 
*' Like fome bright ftar thrown blazing from the fkies,. 
<* One undiitinguim'd heap thy grandeur lies> 

" Yet in ruin ftill augufl ! 



" In palaces of Mighty Men 
" The lurking Chical makes her feeret den ; 

" In the Temple's hallow'd walks 
" The ftrutting Oftrich flalks ; 
" There gorg'd with blood the rav'ning Vulture hies, 
*' There to her mate the fcreaming Night-bird cries y. 



I 90 ] 

" The hifling Serpent haunts the dread abode, 

" Whofe trembling walls rever'd th' indwelling God. 

" There the grim Lions thirfl for human gore ; 

" And heard at diftance by the mudd'ring fwain 

" 'Crofs the drear horrors of the defart plain, 

" Amid the hollow howling ruins roar." 

There paus'd the Prophet's fong — 

The lifVning throng, 
Like ftatues fix'd, in mute amazement flood, 
And anguifh wrung the heart, and horror chill'd the blood. 
Proud Salem bows- — her confcious turrets quake ; 
The deep foundations of the Temple make ; 
Above their banks th' affrighted waters flow ; 
Blue flames athwart the flaming ether glow ; 
Hoarfe peals in loud redoubled roll refound, 
Roar the re-echoing caverns— rocks the ground — 
Nod the high mountain tops, and tremble all round., 



[ 91 ] 



INVOCATION TO MELANCHOLY. 

O Melancholy ! fad and folemn Maid I 

Doft thou thro' the glimm'ring glade r 
Beneath the Moon's pale ray, 
With many a flow ftep flray, 
Far from the foothing voice of kind relief,. 

To feed on thoughts of woe, 
And tell the gliding waters, as they flow, 

Thy oft repeated grief; 
And frill, where'er thy weary wand'rings lead, 

Dread Horror ftalks behind, 
With deeper, hoarfer thunder howls the wind, 
And Night's grim features caft a death-like fhade ? 

Or doll thou on the margin of the main, 

In melting notes complain, 
Beneath fome craggy cliff's impending brow, 
Which thickets hoar, or hanging woods embrown ? 

Whofe fhades tremendous frown 

O'er the foaming gulph below, 
Lull'd by the loud tumultuous waves, that fwell, 
And beat, and break upon the bellowing fhore, 
While hid within her hollow-founding cell 
Hoarfe Echo murmurs to the rough wave's roar ? 

Or in fome defart fly the face of Men, 
LirVning to the raven's croak, 
From the moffy-fringed oak, 
In fome Cimmerian den ; 

N 2 



[ 92 ] 

Converting there 
With gloomy-fronted Care, 
And fullen Silence, and pale-cheek'd Affright, 
Twin daughters of dun Night, 
And wild Defpaii, 
Stretch'd naked on the bare and rugged rocks, 
Rending her tatter' d locks ? 

Or in the haunted aifle 
Of fome time-eaten temple's gothic pile, 
Whofe fpreading arches a dread rev'rence draw, 
And gloomy cloifters breathe myfterious awe, 
Where a dim dying taper's glimm'ring light 
Throws a new horror o'er the frown of night, 

Wetting with tears the ftones, 

Mak'fr. thou thy doleful moans, 

Fixt o'er thy Lover's tomb, 
And thro' the vault, while pealing echos found, 
Starting all pale, and flaring ghaftly round, 
Hear' ft thou fome Spirit fay — " come, Mortal! come? 

Where'er thy wonted haunts, diforder'd Fair ! 

Come with thy braidlefs hair, 

And forrow -wrinkled brow, 

And deep heart-rending fighs, 
And downward looks, and fixt pathetic eyes, 

And tears that ever flow ! 
O'er the rude rocks, and thro' the fhadowy grove 

Come, penlive Pilgrim ! rove 

Companion of my woe ! 
1 



[ S3 ] 

When at her fummit Night's majeftic Queen, 
While low'ring vapours fhroud her awful face, 
With twinkling ftars, like radiant gems between, 

With fullen ling'ring pace 
Rides on her ebon chariot raven-drawn ; 

While Virions dread, that fleep affail, 
And panic Fears, and Spedtres pale, 
Attend her rolling throne. 

O'er the black Ikies, and heaving feas, and land, 

Sleep waves her opiate wand; 
Now finks to {lumber Nature's wearied head; 
'Tis filence all — filence how deep ! how dread ! 

Save where the tinkling rill 

Its folitary murmur rolls, 
And from the tower, that crowns yon hanging hill, 

The fhrill bell tolls. 
Save where bleak Eurus' howling blafts refound 
Thro' the lone vales, and roaring woods around, 
Then fteals a ftill and folemn paufe between — 
Then roar the hollow woods, and howls the blaft again. 

But now by flow degrees 
The ftruggling moon unveils her filver heam, 

Which trembling thro' the rocking trees, 

Darts a faint and quiv'ring gleam; 

While fome enamour'd Swain, 

Heart-wounded by the coy difdain 
Of his relentlefs Fair, 
Wand' ring thro' mazy wilds in woeful plight, 
Chaunts his quaint ditty to the chilling air, 
And oft invokes her pale and penfive light. 



[ £><< ] 

All the long night he tells his plaintive tale. 

Along the lift'ning vale, 

To ev'ry vagrant rill, 

To ev'ry bending hill, 
And bids the hollow gales in pity bear 

His fwelling fighs to Her. 
Thee beautiful — thee cold—thee fcornful Maid !. 
Thee mourns his mufical, his melting lay, 

Thee at the clofing made r 

And thee at dawning day.. 
Yet tho' fevere his fate, fevere his pains, 

Still chearing hope remains : 
But I've no chearing hope to footh my care, 

My doom is all defpair; 
My love, my life, my pleafure, and my pride, 

With dear Amira died. 

And are thofe cheeks now pale and livid, where 
In native colours blufh'd the Cherub's glow I 
Still heighten'd when me heard with maiden air, 
And half-averted eyes, my gentle vow. 

And muft thofe eyes ferene,. 

Where all the foul was feen; 

Still with Pity's fofteft languiih,. 

Melting at the fight of anguifh,. 
Clos'd — ever clos'd — their lovely luftre loft, 
Droop in the tomb, and moulder in the duft ! 

Farewell! — whom not young Hebe's rofeat bloom. 
Nor beauty's brighteft ray, nor fenfe refin'd, 
Nor winning grace, nor dignity of mind, 
Nor Goodnefs felf, cou'd refcue from the tomb ! 



[ 95 ] 

Farewell !— whom not a Mother's frantic woe-~ 
Whom not a Lover's pleading pangs could fave ! 
Ah, Death ! to human blifs determined foe! 
Ah, foe to human glory, ruthlefs grave ! 

Now by the ftream in yonder grove 
Indulging penfive thought I rove, 
Where on the mufic of her tongue 
So oft my charm'd attention hung ; 
There fancy-rapt I feem to hear 
Her tuneful voice's foothing found, 
Trembling in my delighted ear, 
Then ftart as from a trance profound, 
And figh to think, its mufic o'er, 
That tuneful voice mult charm no more 
I trace the path me lov'd to walk, 
I prefs the bank where late me lay ; 
There to her dear idea talk, 
And teach it tender things to fay. 

.Now on her pidtur'd form I feed my eye ; 

Thofe charms, to memory for ever dear, 
I wet with many a tear, 
And ever gaze, and ever figh : 

Such the foft languifh — fuch the magic air, 

Such — fuch the beamy fmile ; that fweetly ftole 
My foft diffolving foul, 

So hung with graceful eafe her waving hair ! 



[ <> e ] 

But fee ! what Hidden gloom o'erwhelms the wood ! 

Thick fliades the Moon o'erfpread, 

And hide her filver head ; 
Thro' the wan cloud fhe feems to blum in bloodo 
The fwelling tempeft blackens round the pole, 
And quench'd is ev'ry ftar's etherial light; 
So toft by tumults is my troubled foul, 
Wild as the tempeft, gloomy as the night ! 

But vain complaint, and unavailing grief: 
Come, Refignation! lend thy mild relief 1 

O bend to Heav'n my will ! 
Calm ev'ry paffion, ev'ry murmur ftill ! 
And thou, bleft Saint ! new tenant of the iky I 
Regard my pain with Pity's tend' reft eye ! 
Nor blame, now paffion-free my fond regret- 
Patient I'd be — but how can I forget ? 

For ever fair to Fancy's eyes 

Still will thy dear Idea rife ; 

On thee the melting thought will dwell, 

And mufe — what tono-ue can never tell. 



The ftarting tear, the fwelling figh, 
Thy love— thy lofs — muft ftill deplore, 
'Till ev'ry fource of forrow's dry, 
And this fad heart fhall heave no more,. 



[ 91 ] 



ODE TO WISDOM. 

Genius of Wifdom ! lead me to thy lhades, 

And while along thy groves and glimm'ring glades 

Roving I court the facred Mufe — be there 

No bufy-thoughted care; 

Nor let Folly intervene 

To profane the folemn fcene ; 
But Contemplation, fweet fequeiler'd Maid! 

Come thou with lilent tread, 

Now pacing foft and flow, 

Now fixt in thought profound, 
Half-clos'd thy mild eye bending to the ground, 
While in thy breaft celefHal ardors glow, 
My Heps attend thefe murm'ring rills along, 
And footh my mind, and harmonize my long. 

How bleft the Man, who, foe to Folly, flies 
The noify world to feek thy ferious joys, 
And haunts the filvan glooms in muling mood 
To learn that noblefr. Science — " to be good /" 
There marks in Nature's thoufand forms combin'd 
The varied force of animating Mind ; 

Soft in the fummer gale, 
Whofe fanning pinions cool the lultry vale ; 

Sweet in the vernal bloom, 
Which breathes o'er Maia's brows the frefh perfume ; 

Fair in each op'ning flow'r 
'Broid'ring the lawn, or blulhing on the bow'r; 

o 



[ ss ] 

Fair in the tints, that make the morning gay, 
Gild the gray ikies, and redden into day : 

Majeftic in the fetting fun, . 
While golden clouds flame round his fiery throne ; 

Majeftic on yon azure plain, 
While fparkling ftars emblaze the wintry iky : 

Terrific in the howling main, 
When down th' etherial hills the tempefts fly, 
Heave the huge billows thund'ring o'er the land, 
Roar the refounding rocks, and trembles the rough ftrand, 

What tho' in feeming folitude he roves 

Along the lonely groves, 
Angelic Pow'rs attend, where e'er he ftrays, 
Affift his mufings, and infpire his praife. 
Oft does the fee ret Deity defcend 

To vifit there his mortal Friend, 

To heal the bleeding wounds of woe, 

The throbbing paffions to appeafe, 
Refine his thoughts from vulgar cares below. 
And to the fkies his flaming fancy raife. 
Then thrills the Soul with facred ecftacy, 

Confcious of th' Immortal Gueft 
She feels her force, and native dignity, 
Ardent for glory, panting to be blen\ 

Hence then ye gaudy train 
Of bufy idle Images, away ! 
Fancy's wild offspring, fleeting, falfe, and vain. 
That in the vacant brain of Folly play ! 



[ ^ ] 
On whofe light plumes a thoufand colours glow, 
All by their Mother's magic hand pourtray'd, 
Like the gay tints, that paint the rainy bow, 
That mine awhile, and fade. 

Bid Truth a rife confeft, 
In all her pure unboirow'd graces dreft, 
Darting full radiance o'er my ravifh'd foul! 
Let each idea there 
Her lov'd refemblance wear, 
Enlarg'd, fublime, and rapt beyond the pole. 
O thou by prying Sages fought 
Thro' all the tangled maze of thought, 
Difpel the clouds, whofe envious night 
Conceal thy beauties from my fight ; 
Beauties denied to vulgar view, 
Referv'd to blefs a favour'd few ! 
Beneath thy banners I'd inlift my name, 
Thy laws I'd own, thy hallow'd badge I'd bear, 
No fool of fafhion, and no flave to fhame, 
Unwarp'd by prejudice, unaw'd by fear. 

Be thou too prefent, Virtue, heav'nly Fair ! 
Exalt my foul, and fanclify her frame ; 
O mark thy own immortal graces there, 

And feed her native flame ; 
For tho' its fparks involv'd in matter lie 
Languid awhile, and ready to expire, 
Thy breath can fan them to a glorious fire, 
And mount them blazing to their kindred iky. 

o 2 



[ ioo ] 

But fordid Vice ahforbs the facred ray, 
Draws off the purer fpirit of the Mind ; 
Th' etherial efferice waftes at length away, 

And leaves the drofs behind ; 
Or choak'd, obfcur'd, v/hile grolfer dregs o'erpowV, 

Expands and mines no more : 

Like fome degraded Sun, 
Of fome fair iyftem late the ruling foul, 
That round the glories of his central throne 

Saw tributary planets roll, 
But now from empire fall'ii, his active light 
Confum'd or quench'd in everlafting night. 

And Thou, among the heav'nly quire 
Glowing with a Seraph's fire, 
Who feel'fr. the fweeteft, nobleft paffions move, 
When hymning Angels tune the golden lyre 
To fongs of joy, and founds of facred love ; 
Or when at awful diftance they furvey 

The living fplendors, as they play 
Round the dread fhrine of Him, no eye can fee, 
And, while the unutterable glories blaze, 
All is rapture and amaze, 
And thrilling trembling ecftacy— — — 
Devotion ! daughter of the fphere 1 
With heav'n-erecled eye be near, 
And make my breafr. thy favour'd refidence; 

Propitious there difpenfe 
The love fublime, the facred energy, 
Which kindling thro' the Brethren of the Iky, 



I 101 1 

Illume their fmiles, their melody infpire, 
Exalt their raptures, and inflame their fire. 
Then ev'ry paffion, ev'ry pow'r, 
In pleafing union mall adore, 
And all the motions of my Soul 
In fweet harmonious order roll. 



[ 102 ] 



THE FOLLY OF DISCONTENT. 



ADDRESSED TO A FRIEND. 



Some viflonary blifs in view, 
In gawdy rain-bow colours gay, 
We urge the chace, but faft as we purfue, 
The Phantom flies, or fades in air away. 
To wild defire we give the loofen'd rein, 

And tire the limbs, and lafh the mind ; 

Then mourn our thought and labour vain; 

We grafp the wave, and hunt the wind. 

E'en of our darling wiiTi pofTeft, 

New cravings rife, and banifh reft; 

From blifs as diftant as before, 

'Tis fomething elfe — 'tis fomething more. 

Still, tow' ring hopes arife, 
O'er which our fond ideas climb the ikies ; 
As fome tall mountain feems its head to rear, 
O'er-top the clouds, and moot into the fphere; 
But fpent with toil when we the fummit gain, 
We find unmeafur'd diftance frill remain. 

What boots it, Friend ! to run . 
To other climes beneath another iun ? 



[ 103 ] 

Why leave your better wealth — your eafe, 
Your Friends, and focial hearth behind, 
To truft your fafety to the feas, 
The fport of ev'ry tyrant wind ? 
Trembling to view the boiling gulf below, 
When, brooding mifchief in the black'ning fky, 
The Demon of the temper! fcowls on high ; 
Then bids amain the blafts of horror blow ; 
While Danger, cloth'd in all her dreadful forms, 

Rides on the pinions of the ftorms ; 
Foams on the fummit of the mountain wave; 
Tremendous flafhes in the lightning's ray, 
In the deep thunder's roll appalls the brave, 
And calls grim Death aloud to haften to the prey ? 

Go ! fpread thy canvas to the fpicy gales ; 

Breathe aromatic air in Indian vales ; 

On Perfia's coafl the lucid pearl explore ; 

Or dig for blazing gems, and golden ore : 

Go ! wander where you will — yet there 
You'll find the winged harpy Care ; 

She lurks within the golden mine, and roves 

Among the iweet perfumes of Indian groves. 
The farther frill you ftray, 

The farther from content declines the wav ; 

Nor can Arabia's bleeding foreft, find 

A balm to heal the ficknefs of the Mind. 

Then ceafe abroad to roam, 
Furl the white fail, and feek your blifs at home, 



[ 104 ] 

You'll find it in your Emma's eyes, 
Where innocence and beauty dwell ; 
Upon her heaving breafts it lies, 
When they with warm affection fwell ; 

When with a tender fympathy they fhare 
• Alike your pleafure, or your care. 
You'll find it in the native fmiles, 
The lovely looks, and wanton wiles, 

Of your rofy, Girls and Boys, 
When fondly clinging round your knee, 
Their playful innocence you fee, 

And tafte a Parent's fweet peculiar joys. 

Enough indulgent Heav'n has lent ;- 
What's wanting; more to give content? 

Wifdom to prize, and virtue to enjoy, 

And Heav'n's beneficence like Heav'n employ ; 

You need not then o'er lands and feas purfue ; 

The rover Blifs would come uncall'd to you. 

Celeftial Wifdom, on her azure fphere, 

To whom the welfare of Mankind is dear, 

Still founds with Reafon's voice to all below 

This folemn {train, " be virtuous, and be bleff." 

But Man — fool Man ! his own perfidious foe, 

Fofters a hungry vulture in his breafl ; 

Infatiate wild Defire, that bird of prey, 

Feeds on the tortur'd thought, and gnaws the foul away. 



[ 105 ] 



ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF A YOUNG LADY. 

Talk not of blifs below — Look round the Ball! 
'Tis falfe, and vain— ^'tis fading, fleeting all 1 
Lull'd in Security's illufive deep, 
We dream of pleafures, and then wake to weep. 
Yet new delufions charm the cheated breaft, 
And Hope perfuades us, we may ftill be bleft: 
In fair fucceffion to our eager eyes, 
She bids Elyzian fcenes of beauty rife, 
By Fancy robed in glaring colours gay, 
Serene, and beaming with unclouded day ; 
But, foe to ev'ry joy of Human-kind, 
Pale Difappointment ftalks conceal'd behind, 
O'er the bright fcene fhe cafts a fudden gloom, 
Fade all its glories — withers all its bloom ; 
The frighten'd Pleafures fly — Succeeds the train 
Of Care, and pining Grief, and agonizing Pain. 

Yes ! they are fled — with fair Amanda fled ! 
Loft in the dreary manfions of the Dead ! 
O blefl: with all that could delight, or move, 
Whofe foul was fweetnefs, and whofe looks were love ! 
With all that's noble, all that's tender fraught, 
The Woman's foftnefs, and the Sage's thought, 
The Saint's humility, the Hero's fire, 
Beauty that rais'd, and awe that quench'd defire \ 
Hate, anger, envy were to her unknown ; 
She prais'd all worth, unconfcious of her own. 



[ 100 ] 

Such was the form of Piety me wore, 

As Saints enraptur'd in their heav'n adore ; 

Sublime to ftrike, and pleafing to engage, 

Strict without rigour, zealous without rage ; 

Source of each gen'rous aim, each thought refin'd, 

And warm with love to God, and Human-kind: 

Were all her lilted Votaries like her, 

Villains would blufh, and Infidels revere. 

Ah ! thou hadft liv'd— could Virtue Death difarm, 

Cou'd fweetnefs foften, or could beauty charm! 

In vain thy Parents faw with kindling eyes 

Fair and more fair thy growing graces rife : 
Juft as thy charms reveal'd their blufhing bloom, 

Juft as thy virtues fhed their full perfume, 
Touch'd by fome blighting wind, or Wafting ray, 

Shrunk the gay flow'r, and droop'd, and died away! 

And what remains — but unavailing woe, 

Sighs that ftill heave, and tears that ever flow, 

And fond remembrance, that augments the fmart, 

And all the thoufand pangs that rend a Parent's heart ! 
O Refignation ! Faith's foft, foothing Child ! 

Come with thy words — thy looks — divinely mild ! 

Woe's wild emotions lull to gentle reft ; 

Pour holy balm into the bleeding brean: ; 

Be ev'ry paffion, ev'ry murmur {till, 

And bend the ftruggling foul to Heav'n's high will. 
Ye thoughtlefs Youth ! ye flaunting flutt'ring Fair ! 

One moment from the chace of pleafure fpare. • 

Ye that with Vanity's light baubles play, 

And trip fecure in Folly's flow'ry way, 



[ *07 ] 

Think how precarious is your boafted bloom ! 
E'en while you laugh, you totter o'er the tomb. 
Soon from the cheek may fade the rofy dye, 
The lip love-whifp'ring wan and lilent lie; 
Cold the warm breaft, that beat with gay defire. 
And quench'd the fparkling eye's etherial fire. 

Heav'n-born Religion ! thine alone's the pow'r 
With chearing ray to gild the gloomy hour, 
Soften the figh, perfume the parting breath, 
And triumph in difeafe, and fmile in death. 

No fweeter accents Poet ever fung 
Than thofe that flow'd from her dear dying tongue ; 
It feem'd a fudden infpiration giv'n ; 
O then me talk'd, fhe look'd, me breath'd of heav'n 
And, in full profpecl: of the realms of light, 
Seem'd half an Angel, e'er fhe wing'd her flight ! 

Now from her radiant bow'r me looks below 
On thefe fad fcenes of vanity, and woe ; 
As the tir'd ftorm-vex'd Sailor, fafe on land, 
Eyes the rough ocean from the tranquil ftrand, 
And while the foaming billows beat the fhore, 
Enjoys the danger that he fear'd before. 

Bleft Saint ! to memory for ever dear ! 
What rightful honours fhall adorn thy bier? 
What laft fad gift fhall Friendship's hand beftow ? 
Not the ft iff pageantry of pompous woe ; 
The ftately marble, or .the mimic buft; 
Vain arts of Pride to dignify the duft ! 
No — ever-lov'd, rever'd, lamented Maid !. 
Be to thy worth a nobl< ■ tribute paid, 



C 108 ] 

Of ev'ry virtuous breaft the gen'rous figh, 

The tender tear of ev'ry melting eye ! 

To thy cold grave let weeping Virgins come, 

And ftrew with tranfitory flow'rs the tomb, 

Faint emblems of thy fair, but, ah ! too fading bloom ! 

With penfive look perufe the letter'd ftone, 

And from thy virtues learn to form their own ; 

Infpir'd by thy example, aim to be 

Meek, pious, wife, benevolent like Thee ! 



C Jos 3 



ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF MRS. S . 



[MRS. S 's SPIRIT IS SUPPOSED TO SPEAK.] 

Why throbs the heart with unavailing woe ? 
Why do thofe tears of fruitlefs Sorrow flow ? 

Ah ! check the foft emotion — ceafe the Sigh ! 

Would too fond friendship call me from the iky ? 

Unfetter'd from the fleSh, enlarg'd, refin'd, 

Here with full freedom roves the raptur'd Mind, 

Of kindred Spirits joins the friendly quire, 

Glows with their warmth, and breathes their pure defire; 

Here endlefs rills of facred pleafure roll ; 

All-perfect Beauty charms th' ecftatic foul, 

And living fplendors from th' eternal throne, 

Pour the full tide of blifs and glory down. 

Say, would you wiSh me, loft to joys like thefe, 

In a frail body, tortured by difeafe, 

Where Death and Nature held perpetual Strife, 
To drag along the tedious load of life? 
Nor think too foon my little race was run, 
The end's accomplim'd, Since the prize is won. 

Now freed from earthly vanities, and cares, 
Efcap'd a thoufand ills, a thoufand fnares, , 
Rejoic'd to find Life's weary voyage o'er, 
Compleat my tranfport, can I wiSh for more ? 
Yes — one fond thought — Upon this blifsful plain, 
Their duty done, to meet my Friends again ! 



[ 110 ] 

To fee them mine in Angel glories dreft, 
And hail their fafe arrival to their reft, 
Where love again our longing fouls mall join,. 
Love pure, exalted, deathlefs, and divine ! 

The mipwreck'd Sailor thus, when fafe on more ? 
Fears the rough rocks and raging furge no more ; 
Yet mindful of his mates he left behind, 
Still toft and ftruggling with the waves and wind, 
With looks of pity, eyes them from the ftrand, 
And longs to hail them welcome to the land. 

Tho' in the tomb our earthly paffions lie. 
The flames of virtuous friendmip never die, 
But in the happy realms of love and light 
With keener ardor burn, and mine more bright. 
Soft Pity dwells in ev'ry heav'nly breaft, 
And moves the melting heart, nor violates their refto 
With fweet diffolving tendernefs, e'en here, 
I fee the Hufband's, Parent's, Sifter's tear ! 
Thofe fmiling infants, late my darling care, 
Thrill thro' my foul, and wake the Mother there, 
O may propitious Heav'n their Steps attend, 
His wifdom guide them, and his grace defend! 
May fphere-born Piety their breafts infpire, 
Fill with her joys, and warm with all her fire;, 
'Till pleas'd I fee their ripen'd virtues rife 
To join th' eternal rapture in the (kies ! 



Ill ] 



ON THE DEATH OF AN AMIABLE CHILD. 



Adieu! thou fhort-liv'd charm adieu ! 

Juft fhown, and ravifh'd from our view ! 

A thoufand hopes — thy Parents' pride 

And fondeft. wifhes with thee died. 

Ye Graces ! on her turfy bed 

Your bluihing fhow'r of rofes fried, 

Emblems of beauty's fading bloom ! 

Ye Zephyrs ! from your rofy wing 

Shake the frefh fragrance of the fpring, 

And waft your odours round the tomb ! 
Ye young-ey'd Angels ! guard her duft, for there < 
Lies all that's foft, and fweet, and innocent, and fair. 

Thofe pallid cheeks no more we view 

Outvie rhe morn's vermilion hue ; 

No more our eager thoughts prefage 

The beauties of her ripen'd age ; 

No more the foft fenfations rife 

Within the fondling Mother's breaft, 

When in her looks, her air, her eyes, 

She faw her youthful form confeft; 

'No more (he hangs upon her fmiles. 

Her lifping lips, her mimic wiles, 
Nor marks the blooming graces, as they grow, 
With fweet conceal'd delight, till tears of tranfport flow. 



[ 112 ] 

Adieu ! thou fhort-liv'd charm adieu ! 
Jufr. mown, and raviih'd from our view ! 
In pity, Heav'n thy mortal race 
Contracted to a narrow fpace ; 
Snatch'd from the world's delufive ftage, 
Where grief ftill waits on rip'ning age, 
Nor care nor forrow's rankling dart 
Had ever reach'd thy harmlefs heart ! 
In circling joys and fportive play 
Thy pleafing moments pafs'd away. 
Now in thofe amaranthine bow'rs 
To infant innocence affign'd, 
You fmile, and cull unfading flow'rs, 
Nor know what ills you left behind ; 
While we remain, condemn'd to groan below, 
And feel the thoufand pangs of variegated woe ! 



[ us ] 



R E S I G NA T I O N. 

Ye wild tumultuous paffions ceafe 
To tofs my troubled breaft I 

O fome kind Angel whifper peace, 
And fmile my foul to reft ! 

Will no kind pitying Angel come 
With healing balm from high ? 

Hope, where is now thy purple bloom, 
And where thy laughing eye ? 

Thy charming magic bids around 

Another Eden rife ; 
We wander o'er Elyfian ground, 

And gaze on golden Ikies. 

Behind fee Difappointment tread 
With quick, but lilent pace ! 

At his approach the vifions fade, 
And leave a defart fpace. 

No more the Pleafures {porting round 
Fan with foft wings the air, 

But o'er us flit with yelling found 
The Harpy birds of Care. 

Q 



[ 114 ] 

" Return, ye vanifli'd joys, again, 

" Now dearer than before!" 
We pray, we wim, we weep in vain, 

The joys return no more. 

Now Pleafure's gay reforts I muii 

To feek the yew-tree's made, 
And oft beneath the pale-ey'd moon 

Hold converfe with the Dead, 

Where Melancholy fits to figh, 
And count her forrows o'er— 

To liften to the fcreech-owl's cry — 
The rough gale's folemn roar. 

And, lo ! the faireft flow'rs of fpring 

She in her bofom bears, 
Upon her Lover's grave to fling, 

And dews it with her tears. 

O'er the cold fod with many a moan 

She wails her hopelefs doom, 
And feems to hear a hollow groan 

Sad-founding from the tomb. 

" Is that my loft Love's voice ?" me fighs, 

And drops again her head : 
" It is my loft Love's voice," me cries, 

" That calls me to the Dead." 



[ 115 ] 

Thus oft in pennve mufmg mood 

I folitary roam, 
On former woes too fondly brood, 

Nor hope for joys to come. 

For once I woo'd a lovely Maid, 

The gentleft of her kind ; 
O'er her fair frame the Graces play'd, 

And Virtue form'd her mind. 

She feem'd to liften to my vow, 

And bid me not defpair ; 
The buds of Hope began to blow, 

And Pleafure fmil'd at Care. 

But ah ! to fell difeafe a prey, 

She funk in beauty's bloom, 
And Hope's fair bloffoms dropp'd away, 

And died upon her tomb ! 

Long loft ! yet flill th' ideas rife 
Of what was then moll: dear, 

And heave my throbbing breaft with fighs, 
And ftart a fudden tear. 

I had a Friend, by Heav'n inclin'd 

To acf its darling part, 
The gen'rous foul, the candid mind, 

The fympathizirtg heart. 
q 2 



I 116 ] 

With pity would his bofom move 

To fee my forrows flow, 
And oft with words and looks of love 

He foftly footh'd my woe. 

But, ah ! that foothing voice is gone ; 

The feeling Friend's no more ! 
I figh, like fome poor wretch alone, 

Left on a defart more, 

Who round for comfort turns his eyes, 

But turns his eyes in vain, 
Here a wide wafte of horror lies, 

And there the boundlefs main. 

In him my hopes had bloom' d anew ; 

But fince that fatal hour, 
No melting eyes with Pity's dew 

Revive the fading flow'r. 

Remembrance frill embitters thought, 
And thought increafes woe; 

O Peace ! fo long, ib vainly fought ! 
Where fhall I find thee now ? 

Come, Refignation, from the fky, 
With chearful Faith defcend ! 

'Tis her's to raife the downcaft eye, 
And thou art Sorrow's friend. 



[ 117 ] 

Set me from tyrant paffions free, 

And o'er my bofom reign ; 
O come ! and Peace will come with Thee 5 

For She is of thy train. 



[ ns ] 



EPISTLE TO A YOUNG LADY. 

While Arabella, proud of beauty's pow'r, 
To fix a pin deliberates an hour ; 
Then fpends another in a grave debate, 
To place a patch on this fide or on that ; 
Confults her faithful glafs with anxious care, 
And bends, adoring the dear Idol there; 
Each feature forms, eachpleafing air infpires, 
And kindles in her eyes diviner fires ; 
Then hafl.es thofe charms in public to difplay, 
The gayeft in the circle of the gay : 
Far nobler cares my Sylvia's hours employ, 
Reafon's calm thought, and Virtue's facredjoy. 

See! of thy Sex light Folly leads along 
A giddy, trifling, flaunting, flutt'ring throng, 
Gay pupils of her fchool, and early taught 
The precious art to murder time and thought; 
From Reafon's voice who turn averfe their ear, 
Becaufe he's neither Fop, nor Flatterer. 

Camelion-minds ! no colour of their own, 
They take their tincture from the mode alone. 
O Fafhion ! Proteus of a thoufand fhapes ! 
Thou dextrous mimic of ten thoufand apes ! 
Great Deity of Fools ! to thee fubmit 
The pow'r of Reafon, and the pride of Wit ! 



[ 119 ] 

Tafle, Honour, Beauty are what you decree, 
And bafhful Virtue yields her blum to thee. 
When at her toilet's talk Belinda bends, 
Thy influence hov'ring o'er her head attends, 
Preiides, inipires, and forms with hand unfeen 
The drefs without it, and the brain within, 
Varies her knots, and her opinions too, 
Difcards the old, and gives each clay a new. 

When Eve, firfr. gazing on her wat'ry glafs, 
Beheld her beauteous form's reflected grace, 
Hung with fond pleafure o'er the mimic there, 
And by that pleafure found that fhe was fair, 
Strait were her locks in artful order plac'd, 
With rofes deck'd, with amaranths inlac'd, 
Her treffes taught to fall with graceful eafe, 
Flow down the milky neck, or float upon the breeze. 
Thus pride of Beauty feiz'd the Female thought, 
And foon for foreign aid Invention fought ; 
As Nature's handmaid Art at firfr. was hir'd, 
But to be Miftrefs foon the Maid afpir'd ; 
Of fvveet fimplicity me fcorn'd the praife, 
And tortur'd ev'ry mode ten thoufand ways. 
External beauties then engrofs their care, 
Each borrow'd elegance, each ftudied air, 
Neglected frill thofe beauties more refin'd, 
The charms of Virtue, and the grace of mind. 

Too ram each feemingdiffonance we blame, 
By Nature mix'd in either Sex's frame: 
As from the elemental conflict fprings 
The fweet harmonious unifon of things, 



[ 120 ] 

So from the whole, thefe various parts compofe 

All focial blifs — all focial order flows. 

E'en contrarieties make nrufic here, 

As well-mix'd difcords pleafe a mafter-ear. 

Yes, Heav'n adorn'd the Sex divinely fair, 
And blefs'd the work, and ftamp'd his image there: 
But Woman's wifdom thought the drefs too plain y 
Bid Vanity new-model it again, 
Torture their fhape, diftort their Maker's face, 
Paint, out of colour ; poliih, out of grace. 
Or daub the native features of the Mind, 
And fpoilthe Moral form, that Heav'n defign'd. 

One common fate attends the Great and Fair— 
Expos'd to Flattery's too pleafing mare, 
While in their ear fhe trills her foothing ftrain, 
Truth, that plain counfellor, may preach in vain; 
She taints the tender mind, untutor'd yet, 
And forms alike the Tyrant, and Coquette ; 
I^ike conquerors they range with killing eyes, 
And value more the triumph than the prize. 
Yet tho' Lifette in queft of glory flrays 
To vifits, auctions, balls, affemblies, plays, 
In vain abroad for fame the Fair would roam, 
For itill the Female Hero's found at home ; 
Unlike thofe flow'rs, which op'ning to the fun, 
Spread their proud glories to the glare of noon, 
Her modeft beauties inun the day's full blaze, 
And bluming lhrink from Admiration's gaze. 

Firfl, Education warps the rifing Mind, 
Their knowledge all to drefs and cards confin'd; 



[ 121 ] 

To think? s a tedious fcience, feldom taught, 
But Fafhion fills the vacant cells of thought, 
And furnifhes her toyfhop of the brain 
With all that's frivolous, with all that's vain. 
Mere children, frill in novelty they joy, 
In each new Lover, as in each new toy; 
Their varied life is all an infant's play, 
They prattle, laugh, and trifle it away ; 
A very trifle 'tis, in truth, at beft, 
By turns, a ferious trifle, or a jeft. 

But fee, my Mufe ! to thy delighted view 
In fair difr.in6r.ion mine a glorious Few, 
Who in the mind's and body's graces mow 
Whate'er of Eden yet remains below ; 
True Female dignity, exempt from pride, 
And all the Virtues with the Loves allied; 
Of manners polifh'd, and of heart fincere ; 
Nor wildly gay, nor prudiihly fevere ; 
Who, frank with modefty, referv'd with eafe, 
Win without art, and undefigning pleafe, 
Averfe to fpread the fcandals of the town, 
Or blaft another's fame to raife their own ; 
And tho' their eyes for no light caufe o'erflow, 
Yet ne'er afham'd to give a tear to woe. 
Whofe lips infpir'd with native eloquence 
Add grace to fcience, energy to fenfe ; 
Whofe fweet good-humour brightens ev'ry gloom, 
And Charity ftill breathes to Heav'n perfume. 

Thefe, when the rays of Beauty blaze no more, 
Will rule us ftill by Virtue's gentler pow'r, 

R 



[ 122 ] 

With fweet attra<5Kon ftill our hearts eneao-e. 
And flourish ever amiable in age. 

While glares the Sun at his meridian height, 
Dazzled we turn away our wearied fight ; 
More pleas'd his milder ev'ning we behold 
Array'd in purple clouds, and thron'd in fkies of gold. 

Ye glitt'ring infect tribes! Ye vain, and gay ! 
That in the fnmmer beam of Folly play ; 
When all the tranfient flow'rs of beauty die, 
When faint the glories of the ltar-bright eye, 
When flies with youth the foul-enchanting pow'r, 

That bade the coxcomb gaze, the beaux adore, 

That gave to frowning, grace ; to nonfenfe, eafe ; 

And made caprice, and flights, and folly pleafe; 

Say, what of all your blifs remains to cheer 

The wint'ry gloom of life's declining year ; 

Supply it's vanifh'd pleafures, charm its woes, 

And lull the throbbing bofom to repofe ? 

What, but your former triumphs to review, 

Dream o'er old pleafures, and defpair of new, 

Throw envy's made o'er ev'ry rifing ray, 

That gilds the ball, and fhames your fetting day; 

And, while your mirrors fpeak the faded grace, 

Fret o'er the ruins of your former face ; 

Your joy, poor remnant of the brilliant pail! 

Reduc'd to fcandal and to cards at laft. 

But thou, my Friend ! itill live by Reafon's rules, 

And fcorn alike the praife and blame of Fools ; 

To deck the mind be thy peculiar care ; 

Invite and cherifh ev'ry Virtue there ; 



[ 123 ] 

There let Religion fix her facrecl fhrine, 
And o'er thy bofom beam a ray divine : 
She'll give thee more than Splendor can beftow 
On her gay flaves, and pretty fools below ; 
The vivid flame, that warms the gen'rous bread, 
And heav'n-born Charity, in bleffing bleft ; 
Refin'd defires, and dignity of foul; 
Courage, no mortal terrors can controul; 
Peace, 'mid the tempeft howling round ferene, 
Firm as a rock above the raging main ; 
And confcious Joy, that fcans with pleafing care 
His own unruffled breafl, and finds Elyfium there. 
While thoughtlefs triflers ridicule thy tafte, 
While the belles wonder, and the witlings jeft, 
Still mail thy foul in real beauty rife, 
In real blifs, and brighten for the ikies* 



& 2 



[ 124 ] 



TO A YOUNG LADY, WITH MILTON'S 
PARADISE LOST. 

In thefe enchanting lines, (Which Raphael taught, 
And to the Bard in nightly vilion brought,) 
Young Nature's rifing charms in bloom we view, 
How Beauty triumph'd, when the World was new : 
In Eden all her varying graces meet, 
Irregularly fair, and wildly fweet ; ■ 
Ere yet the ferpent fram'd his wily mare, 
Or woman liften'd to a flatterer. 
Ah ! then a poifon blafted all its pride, 
Its verdure wither'd, and its graces died ; 
Then Nature's throbbing bofom heav'd with fighs ; 
A gloom of forrow darken'd all the ikies ; 
Then tears nrft ftain'd the Guardian Angel's eye, 
And paus'd on Gabriel's lyre the heav'nly harmony. 

Such is the Spring of Life's revolving year : 
A cloudlefs azure robes the radiant fphere ; 
In golden light, to Fancy's raptur'd eyes, 
Bright images of blifs and beauty rife ; 
Ethereal fragrance breathes o'er all the ground, 
And Hope expands her bloffoms blufhing round ; 
With Love and Folly laugh the young-ey'd Hours, 
And Pleafure lulls us in her flow'ry bow'rs. 
Then, like fome gentle Raphael from the fky, 
Mild Reafon points the fecret danger nigh ; 



L ^ ] 
But, ah ! that Guardian Angel warns in vain ; 
We hear the tedious leffon with difdain ; 
Liftam'd by paffion, or befool'd by pride, 
Some cunning Tempter leads our freps afide ; 
Some Vice, with outfide glorious to behold, 
With beauty's face, and creft of burnifh'd gold : 
To groves me guides, where airs ambroiial blow ; 
Where ftreams of nedtar wind in gentle flow, 
And fruits Hefperian glitter on the bough. 
The mining bait we view with curious eye, 
And longing hafte forbidden blifs to try ; 
Our wifh unfated leaps o'er ev'ry bound ; 
'Tis all delight — 'tis all Elyuum round : 
But fudden black defcending ftorms invade, 
Shake down the fruit, and fcatter all the fhade ; 
Or, while we ftrive our pleafures to renew, 
The blifsful gardens vanifh from the view ; 
Where fhone the object of our fierce defires, 
Avenging Angels glare, and waving fires ; 
And, woful wand' ring o'er the howling wafte, 
We fear the future, and lament the pail:. 

Ye thoughtlefs Fair ones ! guard your ears and eyes ; 
Let Eve's fad error make her daughters wife. 
Vice has a thoufand forms, a thoufand arts 
To charm your fight, and fafcinate your hearts ; 
Pleafure's gay fmile, and Fancy's Syren fong, 
And Pride's embroider'd robe, and Flatt'ry's tongue. 
When Adulation's warbling voice ye hear, 
O fly ! and think the Serpent is too near. 

That fatal fruit ! how much our Race it coff ! 
Love, peace, and joy, with innocence were loft ; 



■■ 



[ 125 ] 

Then heav'n-bom Piety, difhonour'd here, 
Spread her white wing, and fought her native fphere. 
Yet from her ikies the Seraph oft defcends 
Propitious to a few, but chofen Friends, 
And tho' me haunts no more her Eden's bow'rs, 
Fall'n all its honours, faded all its flow'rs, 
To that foft breaft frill loves ihe to repair, 
And finds another nobler Eden there. 



[ 127 ] 



SONNETS. 



TO A YOUNG LADY. 



Fair Maid! whofe radiant eyes, and manners mild, 

Here gild the glooms, and make the woods rejoice, 

In you, Religion haunts the lonely wild, 
And in the defert lifts again her voice. 

In you her awe-commanding charms array'd 

With fofter airs, and winning grace we view : 

Her heav'nly road more chearfully we tread, 
Our fair Angelic guide, and Genius, You. 

Thus, call'd from fervitude the Chofen Seed, 

O'er barren hills, and rocks, and defert ground, 

With many a tedious weary wand' ring led, 

In the wide wafte a flaming Angel found, 

Who ftill before their legions took his ftand, 

To point their footfteps to the promis'd land. 



THE COQUETTE. 



While in Zelinda's form and angel air 

The charms of blooming Eden rife to view, 

Know, thoughtlefs Youth ! that Paradife fo fair 
Conceals a fly deceiving ferpent too. 




C 128 ] 

What tho' her eyes, too fmall to hurt a heart, 
Too artlefs feem, too innocent to kill, 

They wound like Cupid's fmall, yet deadly dart, 
Soft as the plume, but piercing as the fteel. 

Tho' virgin coynefs blumes o'er her face, 
Tho' feeming Nature flows in ev'ry grace, 

. And her mild looks ethereal funfhine mow, 
She's like the furface of a mallow fea, 
Where heav'n's reflected beams ferenely play, 

Yet lie the rocks and lurking Fate below. 



FIRST BEAUTY. 



Light as the breeze, and frolic as the May, 
My carelefs Mufe her idle ditties fung ; 

To mortal beauty trill'd her airy lay, 

Round Folly's fhrine her flow'ry garland hung ; 

'Till Grace, kind Cherub, lighting from the iphere, 
To the Firfl Beauty rais'd my fervid mind, 

Stamp'd the bright image of his glory there, 
Parent of hallow'd fires, and joys refin'd. 

Still, Sov'reign Fair ! th' idea deep impreft, 
Chears my lone mufings, elevates my breaft, 

Rules o'er my numbers, and my rapture warms ; 
There let the facred paffion ever glow, 
Sweet as thy living ftreams of pleafure flow, 

Bright as thy beams, immortal as thy charms ! 




[ 1*9 ] 



FAITH. 

Life's ceafelefs labours, and illufive joys, 

It's ftorms and waves, what brazen breaft could bear ? 
Did not the Cherub Faith's reviving voice 

Sound it's fweet mufic in Affliction's ear ? 

See fhe waves high upon her heav'nly fhore 

Her flaming brand, that guides me to be bleft ! 

Ye foaming billows roll — ye tempefts roar ! 
Your rage but drives me fooner to my reft. 

The Seaman thus, long toft by ftormy feas, 
Worn out with toil, and linking with difeafe, 

With looks of rapture eyes the black'ning land, 
Forgets the paft, and fmiles at prefent pain, 
Feels a new vigour thrill through ev'ry vein, 

And leaps exulting on the welcome ftrand. 



FANCY. 



O Fancy ! Goddefs of the magic wand ! 

Which as thou wav'ft a thoufand beauties rife : 
Where'er we tread, 'tis all a fairy land, 

Gay vales, and verdant groves, and golden fkies, 

s 



[ 130 ) 

While pleas'd we fee the fair illufions play, 

Like fome light virion fades the fleeting fcene 

The fmiling joys diffolve in tears away, 

Like glitt'ring vapours melting down to rain. 

Ah Friend ! how vain the chafe of blifs below ! 
Our pleafures are too near allied to woe, 

In fearch fatigue us — in poffeffion cloy. 
Curb then the roving wifh, the fond defire, 
Which prey upon the foul like fecret fire ; 

Content thy wealth — and virtue be thy joy. 



HOPE. 



Ah Hope ! thou lovely, fmiling, faithlefs Fair ! 
By doating Fancy cloth'd in vivid dyes, 
In all the radiance of Elyfian fkies ; 

Parent of vain defire, and vainer care ! 

See at thy fhrine enamour'd crouds adore ! 

With lurking art you flatter and deceive ; 

While they, tho' ftill deluded, ftill believe ; 
Too well I know thee now, to trull thee more. 

My Friend ! engage not in her fairy race : 
Scorn not the bleffmgs in thy povv'r, to chace 

Her airy forms of blifs, that fafter fly. 
Bound thy wild wifhes, if thou would'ft be bleft : 
Improve the prefent, leave to Heav'n the reft. 

The Fool for ever hopes — 'the Wife enjoy. 



[ «* 3 



A WISH. 

Angels ! that roll the circling orbs on high, 
And guide the years and feafons down the iky, 
Q hear my fond requeft, propitious pow'rs ! 
For Rofalind felecf your fofteff. hours ; 

From fuch, as fried delight on Friendship's breaft ; 
From fuch, as make the virtuous Lover bleft, ; 
From fuch, as o'er Elyfian regions roll, 
And fill with holy joys the Seraph's foul. 

May fair profperity's unclouded ray 

For ever mine — and fanning Zephyrs play 

To make her life one fmiling vernal day. 
In griefs of others only let her grieve, 
And then, to heal that pain, indulgent give 

The blifs, which moit. fhe values — to relieve. 



TO A FRIEND. 



Too fond the world's applaufe to gain, 
Say will the purchafe quit the coft ? 

What you with endlefs toil obtain, 
May in a moment all be loft. 

s2 



[ 132 ] 

Fame oft is like a vernal flower, 

Which fheds awhile a fweet perfume ; 
But Time may make it from its bower, 

Or Envy blaft the blufhing bloom. 

But, Friend ! the glory that proceeds 
From noble aims, from generous deeds, 
Will ever flour ifh frefh and fair 

In the bright gardens of the iky; 
Old Time can never enter there, 

And Envy cannot foar fo high. 



GOLD. 

Almighty Gold ! whofe magic charms difpenfe 

Worth to the worthlefs, to the gracelefs grace, 

To cowards valour, and to blockheads fenfe, 
And to the wither'd Maid a Hebe's face. 

Poor Love exil'd, thou fit'fr. on Hymen's throne ; 

Thou rui'fr. the court, the fenate, and the bar ; 
And tho' the church thy Deity difown, 

Some whifper thou haft prieft and altar there. 

All human charities, all laws divine 
Deluded mortals offer at thy fhrine ; 

O thou fupreme, like Fate, to kill, or fave ! 
To thy vaft empire what is wanting more ? 
u Nought," fighs Avaro, " had it but the pow'r 

»' To iilence confcience, and to bribe the grave.*' 



[ 133 ] 



TO THE NIGHTINGALE. 

Melodious Philomela! pleas'd I hear 

In the lone woods thy love-refounding lay, 

Where the world's din, like thunder from afar^ 
Juit. mutters in the wind, and dies away. 

Known to a few lov'd Friends thefe fhades among, 
Clofe treafur'd from the noify crowd, like thee, 

I'd chaunt the rural, or the moral fong, 

In native wood-notes warbling wild and free. 

Heav'n never form'd me for the world's affairs, 
Too much a foe to all its ftrifes and cares, 
Content with little' in obfcure repofe. 

To Life's high ftorm-vext top let others rife ; 

Low in the vale my lot more fafely lies, 

Nor heeds which way the raging tempeft blows. 



PEACE. 



O Peace, of fmiling lip, and look ferene ! 

Whofe gentle voice the breaft of trouble charms, 
With all my foul I court thee — but in vain — 

While envious Care flill frowns thee from my arms. 



f 134 I 

Ah ! I had hope thy lovely form to view, 

Where on yon arbour breathes the blooming rofe 

But ftill the buzzing fwarms of Care purfue, 
Nor fuffer me to tafle thy wifh'd repofe. 

Thus the tir'd Seaman on the fwelling feaS 
In diftant profpecl hails the rifing land : 

Now opens on his eye the port of peace ; 

His fond ideas tread the blifsful ftrand ; 

But frill the howling ftorm and raging main 

To fea drive back his fhatter'd bark again. 



AN IMITATION OF PETRARCH'S SONNET 31#. 

Io vo piangendo i mei paffati tempi, &c. 

Pensive I now the trifled years deplore, 

When mortal charms engrofs'd my vain defires, 

Still grov'ling on the ground, tho' born to foar, 
And with ftrong pinion reach the Harry fires. 

O Heaven's Eternal King ! propitious frill 

My griefs regard with pity's tender eye ; 
Succour a feeble mind, a wand'ring will, 

And what^my virtue wants, let grace fupply! 

Grant, that with ftorms and billows long diftreft, 
In port at length my weary foul may reft : 

Tho' vain my life, O fanftify its endf 
For what remains my guide and guardian be, 
Living I'd live, and dying die to Thee — 

Thee, my fole refuge— Thee, my laft beft Friend t 



[ 135 



THE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SECOND PSALM 

TRANSLATED. 

While by the flreams that winding flow 

Where Babel's haughty towers arife, 
We filent fate in folemn woe, 

For thee, O Zionl heav'd our fighs, 
For thee ftole down the frequent tear, 
To memory for ever dear ! 

While waving on the willow-bough 

Our unregarded harps were hung, 
*' Hence forrow !" cried th' infulting foe, 

" And chaunt the cheerful feftal fong ; 
*' Such fongs as, in her happier days, 
'" On Zion's hill refounded praife." 

Doom'd to the yoke and galling chain, 

Our antient fame and freedom loir, 
Ah ! can we chaunt a cheerful ftrain, 

While fallen Zion droops in dufl ? 
Or to unhallow'd ears proclaim 
Our God, Jehovah's awful name ? 

Lov'd Zion ! fhould a foreign land 

E'er blot thine image from my heart, 
Mute be my tongue, unnerv'd my hand 5 

And quite forgot my tuneful art ! 
For Thee my lays mall ever flow 
In melting founds that waken woe ! 



Thy vengeance, Lord ! let Edom feel I 

Who pitilefs beheld her fall, 
Edg'd with new rage the hoftile fteel, 

And triumph'd o'er her broken wall. 
" Spread, fpread," he cried, " her ruins round, 
"■ And rafe her glory to the ground." 

Proud Babel ! tremble at thy doom ! 

I fee, 1 fee thy dreadful day! 
Soon fhall the fierce avenger come, 

Who fhall our mighty wrongs repay, 
And, harden'd to the mother's moans, 
Dam her dear infant on the ftones. 



[ 137 ] 

HYMNS. 

DIVINE LOVE. 

My God," thy boundlefs love I praife ; 
How bright on high its glories blaze ! 

How fweetly bloom below ! 
It nreams from thine eternal throne ; 
Thro 5 heav'n its joys for ever run, 

And o'er the earth they flow. 

'Tis love that paints the purple morn, 
And bids the clouds in air upborn 

Their genial drops diftil ; 
In ev'ry vernal beam it glows, 
And breathes in ev'ry gale that blows, 

And glides in ev'ry rill. 

It robes in cheerful green the ground, 
And pours its flow'ry beauties round, 

Whofe fweets perfume the gale; 
Its bounties richly fpread the plain, 
The blufhing fruit, the golden grain, 

And fmile on ev'ry vale. 

But in thy gofpel fee it mine 

With grace and glories more divine, 

Proclaiming fins forgiv'n ; 
There Faith, bright cherub, points the way 
To realms of everlafting day, 

And opens all her heav'n. 

T 



[ 138 ] 

Then let the love that makes me bleft 3 
With cheerful praife infpire my breafl 7 

And ardent gratitude ; 
And all my thoughts and paffions tend 
To thee, my father and my friend, 

My foul's eternal good. 

Dart from thine own celeftial flame 
One vivid beam to warm my frame 

With kindred energy ; 
Mark thine own image on my mind ; 
And teach me to be good and kind; 

And love and blefs like thee,. 



WISDOM AKD VIRTUE SOUGHT FROM GOBI 

Supreme and univerfal light ! 
Fountain of Reafon ! Judge of right !- 
Parent of good ! whofe bleffings flow 
On all above and all below ; 

Without whofe kind, directing ray. 
In everlafting night we ftray, 
From paffion flill to paffion toft, 
And in a maze of error loft ; 

Affift me, Lord, to act, to be, 
What nature and thy laws decree ; 
Worthy that intellectual flame 
Which from thy breathing fpirit came. 



[ 139 } 

My mortal freedom to maintain, 
Bid paffion ferve, and reafon reign, 
Self-pois'd, and independent flill 
On this world's varying good or ill. 

No Have to profit, fhame, or fear, 
O may my ftedfaft bofom bear 
The ftamp of heav'n, an honefr. heart, 
Above the mean difguife of art ! 

May my expanded foul difclaim 
The narrow view, the felfilh aim ; 
But with a chriftian zeal embrace 
Whate'er is friendly to my race. 

O Father! grace and virtue grant; 
No more I wifti, no more I want : 
To know, to ferve thee, and to love, 
Is peace below, is blifs above. 



THE UNRIVALLED BEAUTY AND GLORY OF 

RELIGION. 

Soft are the fruitful fhow'rs that brin^ 
The welcome promife of the ipring, 

And foft the vernal gale ; 
Sweet the wild warblings of the grove,, 
The voice of nature and of love, 

That gladden ev'ry vale. 

t 2 



[ 140' ] 

But fofter in the mourner's ear 
Sounds the mild voice of mercy near.,, 

That whifpers fins forgiv.'n ; 
And fweeter far the mufic fwells, 
When to the raptur'd foul fhe tells 

Of peace and promised heav'n. 

Fair are the flow'rs that deck the ground 
And groves and gardens blooming round; 

Unnumber'd charms unfold; 
Bright is the fun's meridian ray, 
And bright the beams of fetting day, 

That robe the clouds in gold. 



& 



But far more fair the pious breanV, 



In richer robes of g-oodnefs dreft 



& 



■•> 



Where heav'n's own graces mine % 
And brighter far the profpects rife 
That burft. on Faith's delighted eyes 

From glories all divine. 

All earthly charms, however dear,. 
Howe'er they pleafe the eye or ear, 

Will quickly fade and fly ; 
Of earthly glory faint the blaze, 
And foon the tranfitory rays 

In endlefs darknefs die. 

The nobler beauties of the juft 
Shall never moulder in the dufr, 

Or know a fad decay ; 
Their honours time and death defy, 
And round the throne of heav'n on high 

Beam everlafting day. 



C "i I 



THE DAY OF JUDGMENT. 

Hear, O ye dead, awake, arife, 
The founding clarion makes the ikies % 

The awful Judge is near ! 
Angelic guards attend him down, 
And flaming round his fiery throne 

A thoufand terrors glare. 

Pale Guilt looks upward with amaze ? 
She trembles while the terrors blaze, 

And Confcienee tells her doom ; 
Struck with unutterable dread, 
She hides again her frighted head, 

And fh rinks within the tomb. 



The proud and mighty mourning lie 
Or to the rocks and mountains fly, 

To fhun the burning ray ; 
Bold hearts, that never felt a fear, 
Now ftart at flaming vengeance near 

And melt like wax away. . 



In vain they fly, they wail in vain, 
His thunders drive the wretched train 

Where feas of fulphur roll: 
In everlafting darknefs there 
Dwell Sorrow, Pain, and mad Defpair, 

And horrors rend the foul. 



[ 142 ] 

But ye his happy Saints rejoice 

No terrors hath the Monarch's voice, 

His looks no frowns for you ; 
He comes, your Spirits to convey 
To regions of eternal Day, 

To joys for ever new. 

BlefT: of my Father, hafte, He cries, 
In mining triumph mount the ikies, 

To nobler worlds above ; 
There fhall ye fhare my blifsful light, 
And tafte the fulnefs of delight, 

In my eternal Love. 



THE VANITY OF HUMAN LIFE. 

Our Life is but an idle play, 

And various as the wind, 
We laugh and fport our hours away, 

Nor think of woes behind. 

See the fair cheek of beauty fades, 

Frail glory of an hour, 
And blooming youth with fickening head 

Droop like the dying flower. 

Our pleafures, like the morning fun, 

Diffufe a flattering light, 
But gloomy clouds obfcure their noon, 

And foon they fink in night. 



t H3 ] 

Wealth, pomp, and honour, we behold 

With an admiring eye, 
Like fummer infects, dreft in gold, 

That flutter, mine, and die. 

One little moment can deflroy 
Our vafl laborious fchemes, : 

And all our heaps of folid joy 
Are fweet deceitful dreams. 

Then rife my Soul and foar away,. 

Above the thoughtlefs crowd, 
Above the pleafures of the gay, 

And fplendors of the proud. 

Up where eternal beauties bloom 

And pleafures all divine, 
Where wealth that never can confume f 

Andendlefs glories mine. 



[ I** J 



PRIVATE LIFE, 

A MORAL RHAPSODY*. 

Blest groves 3 bleft. manfion ! tho' your humble gate 
No Doric columns crowd with idle ftate, 
"No buftos, flatues, temples, arcs furprife, 
Nor gilded roofs fatigue the gazer's eyes ; 
Here Nature reigns, with modeft grace array'd, 
By Art, her fubjecr, ferv'd and not betray 'd : 
Here all the mild domeftic Joys reiide, 
And rural Elegance unfpoil'd by Pride, 
XJnfullied Honour, Peace with eye ferene, 
Friendship's warm glow, and Candour's open mien ; 
Benevolence {lands fmiling at the door, 
The friend to welcome, and to feed the poor. 

Imperial piles and glitt'ring domes, that rife, 
And back reflect their glories to the Ikies, 
Vain Grandeur's tinlell'd train, the gorgeous glare 
Of crowns and thrones and banners wav'd in air, 
May give the dazzled eye a lhort delight, 
But tire at length the fatiated light, 
Which views with unabated pleafure flill 
The fiow'r-enameU'd mead and rambling rill, 

* This piece, printed at Plymouth in 1795. at the inftigation of the author's nephew, has 
probably been feen by fo few of the readers of this volume, that there can be no impropri- 
ety in annexing it to his original Poems. Its intrinfic merit, it is prelumed, will be thought 
io entitle it to fuch a prefer vation. E„ 



[ IB ] 

The (loping vale, which rocky mountains bound, 
And verdant hills with waving woods embrown'd, 
The flraw-built cottage fmoaking in the grove, 
And grazing herds that o'er the champain rove, 
Rich harvefts glowing o'er the golden fields, 
And all the fimple charms that Nature yields. 

Hail grafs-crown'd Genius of the fylvan fcene, 
Shrin'd in thy homely bow'r of flow'ring green ! 
Hail Sire of Sages, Heroes, Bards of old, 
Who in thy woods (while bafer aeras roll'd) 
Preferv'd the bright Saturnian age of gold! 
Methinks I fee in folemn order ftand 
Dictators, Confuls, Kings, an awful band ! 
Whofe virtues, nurs'd beneath the lowly fhed, 
By thee to mighty feats of fame were bred ; 
To fpeak, to dare in Freedom's facred caufe— 
To form the riling ftate— to dictate laws 
To wild ambition, and profufe of blood 
Pour in their country's right the gen'rous flood. 
Hence Numa humaniz'd ferocious hearts, 
And footh'd a favage brood to peaceful arts ; 
Hence honeft Curius tamed a Tyrant's pride, 
And hence Fabricius lived and Decius died. 
What tho' no longer in thy rural fchool 
Statefmen and Heroes learn to fight or rule ; 
Still to thy folitary fhades belong 
The Sage's wifdom and the Poet's fong. 

O bleft the Man, whom meditation leads 
To thefe fequefler'd groves and filent meads 1 

u 



} 



[ 146 ] 

Here while he bends at Wifdom's fylvan mrine, 
In folemn millings rapt, with drops divine 
From her etherial well, fhc clears away 
The mifts that cloud his intellectual ray, 
'Till Truth, fair-dawning with increafing light, 
Pours her full glories on the gladden'd fight. 

Touch'd by her energy, his curious mind 
Wanders thro' fields of fcience unconfin'd ; 
Now boldly foars among the ftars to ftray, 
While Newton's mighty genius points the way : 
Thro' Nature's dread immenfe he darts his eyes, 
And fees unnumber'd wonders round him rife ; 
What well-proportion'd pow'rs the planets roll ; 
How various parts compofe one beauteous whole ; 
While in her centre thron'd, bleft Harmony 
Tunes her immortal ftrings and charms them to agree. 

The Sun himfelf, intolerably bright, 
Dims the weak eye with mere excefs of light ; 
While in his Sifter's fofter looks expreft 
His image we admire in gentler glories dreft. 
Thus tho' no mortal eye the GOD furvey, 
Veil'd in the blaze of his effential day, 
Diffus'd o'er nature's various form we find 
The fair reflection of her Maker's mind, 
And in his works the Parent Beauty trace, 
Majeftic grandeur with enchanting grace. 

While rapt he views the van: fublime defign, 
On his own mind he marks the plan divine ; 



[ 1+7 ] 

He fain would imitate the Sov'reign Fair 
And emulate th' eternal order there, 
Bids reafon take her fceptre and her fway, 
And bend each rebel paffion to obey ; 
Bids all his pow'rs within their orbits roll, 
And form the harmonious mufic of the foul, 
Where fweetly blended meet in mode and time 
The juft, the good, the graceful and fublime : 
EnthufiafUc heaves his ardent breaft, 
And mares and taftes the pleafures of the bleft. 

For not the Bard, who on the ecftatic lyre, 
While his warm fancy flames etherial fire, 
Warbles the foft or founds the lofty lay, 
And lifts or fwells or melts the foul away ; 
Not the gay tints, that arch the fhow'ry bow, 
Blaze in the gem — or in the flow'ret glow, 
Or tinge Aurora's dewy cheek with red, 
Or dye the blufhes of the bridal Maid, 
Or nobly rang'd by Raphael's hand divine 
Give form and fpirit to fome bold defign, 
Bid each impaflion'd figure breathe and move, 
Or frown in rage or languish into love ; 
Not mother Nature, nor her daughter Art, 
Such joys to fancy, or to fenfe impart, 
As to the Soul's quick eye and ear refin'd 
The nobler grace and mufic of the mind. 



0" 



Thus half-infpir'd his warm ideas rife, 
>oar o'er the azure vault and gain the fkies ; 

u 2 



t I48 I 

Faith opens to his view her realms on high, 
And Heav'n's own fplendors burft upon his eye j 
Thence like a Seraph, feated on his fphere, 
He marks the courfe of human motions here, 
Treats with a jufr. difdain the toys of ftate, 
And looks with pity on the proud and great ; 
He feels, like Amnion's fon, his mighty mind 
Within this globe's too narrow verge confin'd, 
For other worlds with nobler ardour fighs, 
For realms and thrones eternal in the Ikies-. 

Such is the path that Saints and Sages trod ? 
The path to reafon and the path to, G.OD. 
O give me thus the rural fcenesto rove, 
And vifit Nature in her native grove ! 
May thus in eafy flow my minutes glide j; 
No ftormy paffion tofs the tranquil tide ;, 
No vain ambition fwell my lowly breaft,. 
Content with Virtue humbly to be bleft. 
Her bloffoms wither or to wildnefs run*. 
Too near the blaze of Fortune's fcorching Sun ;. 
Too far remov'd they languim, pine, and die 
Beneath the rigour of too cold a iky % 
But in her middle zone and temp'rate air, 
They breathe and bloom, more fragrant and more fair,. 

When the Sun, funk beneattr his wat'ry bed, 
Yet gilds with dying gleams the mountain head, 
And yet the clouds retain a crimfon glow, 



[ 149 J 

That faintly blufhes on the lake below, 

While fober Cynthia lifts her folemn beam, 

With luftre quiv'ring on the fparkling ftreamj, 

And with a radiant band of filver light 

Inwreaths the jetty trefles of the Night ; 

Then Contemplation, fweet ecftatic Maid !" 

I feek thy mild, thy care-compofing aid, 

Amid the mofs-clad walls and rooflefs aifle 

Of yon lone Abbey's venerable pile, 

Whofe tow'rs, by Time's relentlefs hand o'erthrownj 

Lie low with ivy and with thorn o'ergrown. 

There Superflition, Ignorance's child, 

Once dream'd h<=r dreams and law her virions wild r , 

Her aves mutter'd and her beads retold, 

And bow'd to filver Saints and lTirines of gold, 

With holy dread the darkfome cloifters trod, 

And ofFer'd living victims to her GOD : 

There by the glimm'ring lamp, the pale-eyed Maid s 

Sobb'd as fhe fimg, and trembled as me pray'd.; 

Severe religion, paffion unrepreft, 

Like meeting currents ftrugo-lino; in herbreafi: : 

In youth's enliv'ning warmth, in beauty's bloom,- 

Betray'd to ceafelefs folitude and gloom* 

She bade the World adieu — ah, vows how vain ! 

While ftubborn Nature ftill maintain'd her reign.. 

Still fond affection heav'd the hopelefs figh, 

And tears too tender gliften'd in her eye. 

No more are heard the vocal walls along, 

The deep-ton'd. organ or the matin fong 5 



[ 150 ] 

Nor midnight bell, whofe flow and folemn toll 
Sent a chill horror thro' the fhudd'ring foul : 
All filent now — fave when through ruins hoar, 
And hollow-founding cells, the rude winds roar ; 
Save the lone owl, that hoots her dirges fhrill, 
And the hoarfe murk of the murm'ring rill. 

There moping Melancholy loves to come, 
And fadly pore upon the time-worn tomb ; 
Brooding on grief, fhe fits in trance profound. 
Nor Superftition yet has left the ground ; 
Strange fhapes, 'tis faid, the village-maid affright, 
And doleful founds are heard at dead of night ; 
Pale Ghofls amid the nodding piles are feen, 
Flit o'er the walls and gleam athwart the green ; 
There hags, 'tis thought, their works of horror ply, 
And the Swain trembles, as he haftens by. 

Among the mould'ring aifles I mufing go, 
Wand' ring with folitary fteps and flow ; 
Far from the fenfelefs clamours of the crowd, 
Far from th' infulting fplendor of the proud ; 
No fmile of friendship feign'd, no gilded care, 
No lip of fcorn, no laugh of folly there : 
The folemn fcenes around, and filent hour, 
Calm the wild paflions with myfterious pow'r, 
Mild awe diffufing, and the heart imprefs 
With a foft, fad, but pleafing penfivenefs ; 
Sublimely painting to the mental eye 
The wreck of time and man's mortality. 
At once the world's delufive fpell is o'er, 
Her glitt'ring vanities can charm no more : 



[ 151 1 

Far nobler themes invite, enlarg'd, refin'd, 
That fuit th' immortal dignity of mind, 
Pow'rful the ftubborn paffions to controul, 
And give new ftrength and energy to Soul, 
Above all fublunary fcenes I rife, 
With ardent hope high-foaring to the Ikies ; 
With Conference now, my guardian Genius, talk, 
And meet my GOD along the lonely walk ; 
To the firfr. Beauty bid my thoughts afpire, 
And from his glories catch a kindred fire. 

O come, mild Wifdom ! come, celeftial gueft ! 
And fhed thy facred beam upon my breafr. ; 
Bid there each pure, each kind affection roll. 
And with the joys of reafon feaft my foul ! 
Come, to this lowly graffy couch repair ! 
Let Zephyr's gentle breath invite thee there ; 
No pompous trifles here profane the made, 
No fpouting fountain and no fore'd cafcade : 
Here rove the rills at will their woods between, 
Dam down the vale and glitter o'er the green ; 
The vine and winding woodbine arching o'er 
From fult'ry rays defend the cooling bow'r. 
Here bring the tuneful Mufe's raptur'd choir ; 
Each Mufe for thee mail touch* the charming lyre : 
Bring Truth and Science's inftructive band ; 
The Grecian Graces dancing hand in hand ; 
Content, with plain attire and cheerful air ; 
Friendfhip, exalting Joy and foothing Care ; 
With Piety, that waits on wings to rife, 
Her looks for ever lifted to the Ikies, 



[ 152 1 

O come, with all thy mental, moral train, 
And in this peaceful, rural kingdom reign ! 

Heav'n meant immortals for fublimer things 
"Than wealth's gay glitter and the pomp of Kings ; 
For pleafures, grace, and dignity, denied 
To the vain fons of Folly and of Pride : 
Yet frantic Man, rebellious to his will, 
His gifts abufing, turns his good -to ill -: 
-Some dear ideal blifs is ftill purfued ; 
But ftill his Juno proves a painted cloud ; 
Reafon, his better Genius, warns in vain ; 
Paflion perfuades, and he believes again ; 
Ardent he runs to feize the fairy prize, 
"Till fainting in the fruitlefs race he dies. 

Smile ye not, Angels? when in fcornye fcan 
The ferious follies of your mimic Man ; 
His boafted reafon, dupe to ev'ry luft ; 
His high ambition grov'ling in the dull: ; 
A fool with knowledge and with forelight blind, 
Perplex' d between his matter and his mind, 
Where great and mean, where mortal and divine, 
Heav'n, earth, brute, Angel, in confufion join ; 
Like jarring atoms in one Chaos hurl'd, 
"Which well arrang'd would form a beauteous World. 
Ye fmile to lee the puny godhead rave ; 
Great lord of earth, his meaneft paffion's (lave ! 
Drunk at the banquet, glorious on the throne, 
And now an Ammon's, now a Philip's fon ! ....•* 

3STor ye, the Great, like erring mortals, name ,. ■ . , • . 

Ambition's madmen or the fools of fame ; 



[ 153 ] 

Nor thofe court-pageants, flarr'd and titled things, 

The gilded tools of Minifters and Kings ; 

Nor thofe, the wolves and harpies of their race, 

Who rife by wicked arts to pow'r and place ; 

But mark, where poor, unnotic'd or unknown, 

Neglected Virtue fmiles at Fortune's frown ; 

Or bleft. by Fortune in a private ftate, 

By worth ennobled and by goodnefs great ; 

Bright on whofe gen'rous breaft thofe fplendors glow 

Of facred honour, Kings could ne'er bellow ; 

The FRIEND OF MAN ! who can in life confefs 

No joy worth living, but the joy to blefs. 



THE END. 



Printed by J. Crowder End E. Hemfted, Warwick-Square . 



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